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LIBRARY  * 

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PETRARCH 


A   SKETCH   OF  HIS    LIFE  AND   WORKS. 


*BY   THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


DANT  E. 
&  &ketrfj  of  ftis  ILiit  ano  OTorkg. 

i6mo,  Cloth,  Price  $1.25. 


ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  Boston. 


PETRARCH 


A  SKETCH    OF  HIS    LIFE    AND   WORKS 


BY 


MAY   ALDEN  WARD 

AUTHOR    OF 
DANTE  :    A   SKETCH    OF    HIS   LIFE   AND   WORKS 


T 


BOSTON 

ROBERTS     BROTHERS 

1891 


Copyright,  1891, 
By  Roberts  Brothers. 


Enfbmsitg  tyres*: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambuidg*:,  U.S.A. 


1/I/S7 

CONTENTS.^j/V 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  First  Modern  Man   ....  7 

II.    Early  Years 21 

III.  Avignon 34 

IV.  Laura 45 

V.    Travels 57 

VI.    Rome 69 

VII.    Vaucluse 81 

VIII.  The  Coronation     .......  97 

IX.  Petrarch's  Popularity      ....  114 

X.     Rienzi 127 

XI.    Sorrows  and  Losses 151 

XII.    Milan 162 

XIII.  Petrarch's  Children 181 

XIV.  Boccaccio 192 

XV.    Venice 212 

XVI.    Padua  and  Arqua 230 

XVII.    Petrarch's  Letters 249 

XVIII.    Latin  Works 259 

XIX.    Italian  Poems 274 

Authorities 287 

Index  • 289 


225408 


LIFE  OF   PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   FIRST  MODERN   MAN. 

A  LL  mankind  love  a  lover,  and  for  more 
■***  than  five  hundred  years  Petrarch  has 
been  regarded  as  the  ideal  personification  of 
this  character.  So  universal  is  the  recogni- 
tion of  this  pre-eminence,  that  the  mere  men- 
tion of  his  name  carries  with  it  the  suggestion 
of  Laura.  And  yet  it  was  not  as  the  lover  of 
Laura  that  Petrarch  expected  to  be  remem- 
bered, nor  as  the  writer  of  the  sonnets  to 
which  he  refers  slightingly  as  "  a  few  trifles 
in  the  vulgar  tongue." 

In  the  celebrated  "  Letter  to  Posterity  "  he 
makes  but  little  mention  of  his  Italian  poetry, 


$  ;  / ;  ;■• :  * ,  <'  hfFE\  DP' ^ETRARCH. 

while  he  dwells  with  complacency  on  the 
great  Latin  epic  of  "  Africa"  which  was  to 
perpetuate  his  name,  and  which  won  him  the 
laurel  crown  from  the  Roman  Senate.  So 
perverse  however  is  posterity,  that  the  very 
name  of  the  epic  is  almost  forgotten  while 
the  sonnets  are  immortal,  his  reputation  as 
a  lyric  poet  having  almost  obscured  his  other 
services  to  mankind. 

But  the  life-work  of  Petrarch,  one  of  far 
more  importance  and  far  wider  influence  than 
any  of  his  writings,  whether  Latin  or  Italian, 
was  the  opening  of  the  gates  of  antiquity  to 
the  modern  world.  It  is  as  the  apostle  of 
culture,  the  instigator  of  the  revival  of  Letters, 
the  precursor  of  the  Renaissance,  that  he  will 
always  be  gratefully  remembered  by  the  stu- 
dent. "  To  have  foreseen  a  whole  new  phase 
of  European  culture,"  says  Symonds,  "  to  have 
interpreted  its  spirit,  and  determined  by  his 
own  activity  the  course  it  should  pursue,  is 
in  truth  a  higher  title  to  fame  than  the  com- 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN 


position  of  even  the  most  perfect  sonnets. 
The  artist  however  has  this  advantage  over 
the  pioneer  of  intellectual  progress,  that  his 
delicate  creations  are  indestructible,  and  that 
his  work  cannot  be  merged  in  that  of  a  con- 
tinuator.  Therefore  Petrarch  lives,  and  will 
live,  in  the  memory  of  millions  as  the  poet 
of  Laura,  while  only  students  know  how 
much  the  world  owes  to  his  humanistic 
ardor."  » 

It  is  only  by  comparing  his  standpoint  with 
that  of  his  predecessors  that  we  can  appre- 
ciate the  originality  of  Petrarch,  or  realize  in 
how  many  directions  he  anticipated  the  Re- 
naissance. Ideas  so  familiar  that  we  never 
think  of  inquiring  where  they  originated, 
were  exceedingly  novel  to  the  men  to  whom 
he  first  presented  them. 

It  was  he,  for  instance,  who  first  saw  the 
value  of  public  libraries,  and  took  steps  to 
found  one.     It  was  he  who  first  advised  the 
1  Renaissance  in  Italy,  vol.  ii.,  "  Revival  of  Learning." 


10  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

collection  of  coins  and  medals  as  historic  ma- 
terial. It  was  he  who  urged  and  entreated 
his  countrymen  to  preserve  their  ancient 
ruins,  both  for  sentimental  and  for  scientific 
reasons,  as  reminders  of  the  past,  and  as  aids 
in  the  study  of  history.  He  encouraged  the 
study  of  Greek  and  the  translation  of  the 
Greek  masterpieces.  He  preached  to  every 
one  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  the  duty 
of  collecting  manuscripts,  of  recovering  the 
lost  treasures  of  classic  literature  from  the 
monastic  libraries  in  which  they  were  buried. 
In  short,  nearly  every  characteristic  feature 
of  the  Renaissance  was  foreseen  by  Petrarch, 
and  his  life  was  spent  in  the  effort  to  turn 
men's  thoughts  in  these  directions. 

To  him  more  than  to  any  one  else  belongs 
the  glory  of  that  which  Michelet  has  so  hap- 
pily characterized  as  the  "  discovery  of  man;" 
that  is,  a  just  conception  of  the  real  dignity 
of  man,  and  of  the  duty  of  self-development 
devolving  on  each  individual.     His    passion 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN 


was  self-culture,  the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
the  ideal  perfection  of  the  intellect ;  and  the 
inspiration  for  this  development  he  found 
only  in  the  classic  authors. 

Petrarch  is  the  first  instance  in  the  modern 
world  of  a  genuine  man  of  letters,  a  de- 
votee of  literature  for  its  own  sake,  —  liter- 
ature pure  and  simple,  unmixed  with  politics 
or  religion. 

The  circumstances  of  his  life  did  much  to 
bring  about  this  unique  position.  Born  only- 
fifty  years  later  than  Dante,  he  was  born  into 
a  wholly  different  world.  The  two  causes 
which  inspired  the  elder  poet  had  already 
become  dead  issues  in  Petrarch's  day. 

The  Church,  or  rather  the  Papacy  (the 
object  of  so  much  love  and  hatred  on  Dante's 
part),  had,  by  its  removal  to  Avignon,  become 
a  mere  tool  of  the  King  of  France.  The 
Papal  court  was  as  corrupt  as  ever,  but  by 
withdrawing  from  Rome  it  had  lost  its  pres- 
tige and  dignity,  had  lost  "  the  poetry  of  its 


12  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

vices,"  and  could  no  longer  inspire  even  the 
invectives  of  a  poet. 

Dante's  other  great  theme  had  been  poli- 
tics ;  but  his  intense  partisanship  was  an  un- 
known tongue  to  Petrarch.  Born  in  exile, 
reared  in  a  foreign  land,  how  could  he  share 
in  the  bitter  feuds  by  which  every  Italian  city 
was  torn?  "  His  cradle  carried  from  place  to 
place,  —  from  Arezzo  to  Incisa,  from  Italy  to 
Provence,  —  what  to  him  were  Guelfs  and 
Ghibellines,  or  Blacks  and  Whites?"1  His 
country  was  not  Florence  but  Italy,  and  not 
the  Italy  of  his  day,  divided  into  petty  States 
warring  with  each  other,  but  the  Italy  of  an- 
tiquity, with  Rome  as  its  centre, — the  Italy 
of  Cicero  and  of  Livy ;  and  it  was  this  Italy 
which  he  hoped  to  revive  by  unearthing  all 
the  treasures  of  her  ancient  literature,  by  re- 
covering and  perfecting  the  Latin  tongue. 

By  his  untiring  energy  in  collecting  and 
collating  manuscripts  Petrarch  succeeded  in 

1  Quinet,  "  Revolutions  d'ltalie." 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN  1 3 

preserving  many  classic  writings  which  might 
otherwise  have  been  lost  to  the  world.  Some 
of  these  had  lain  for  centuries  buried  in  the 
dust  of  monastic  attics  and  cellars,  and  but  for 
his  timely  interference  would  soon  have  be- 
come illegible.  He  also  did  much  toward 
the  improvement  of  the  Latin  then  in  use,  by 
urging  the  abandonment  of  the  corrupted 
mediaeval  Latin  and  the  formation  of  a  cor- 
rect style  from  constant  study  of  the  classics. 
Born  with  a  natural  instinct  for  harmony,  he 
had,  as  a  child,  been  charmed  by  the  periods 
of  Cicero  before  he  was  old  enough  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  words. 

Cicero  remained  always  his  favorite  author, 
—  his  master,  as  he  loved  to  call  him ;  and  one 
of  the  happiest  days  of  his  life  was  that  on 
which  he  discovered  in  the  cathedral  of  Ve- 
rona a  copy  of  Cicero's  letters.  He  could 
trust  no  eye  but  his  own  to  decipher  the 
faded,  worm-eaten  manuscript,  and  therefore 
copied  the  whole  with  his  own  hand.     These 


14  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

volumes  he  never  ceased  to  regard  as  his 
greatest  treasure.  He  not  only  made  his 
discovery  known  to  the  world,  but  announced 
it  to  Cicero  himself  in  an  eloquent  epistle. 

Indeed,  the  idea  of  "  Letters  to  Dead  Au- 
thors "  by  no  means  originated  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Petrarch  was  very  fond  of  ad- 
dressing letters  to  the  writers  of  antiquity.  So 
zealously  had  he  studied  them,  so  thoroughly 
was  he  in  sympathy  with  them,  that  he  looked 
upon  them  as  familiar  friends  with  whom  he 
loved  to  converse  on  paper,  expressing  freely 
his  reverence  and  affection,  even  adding  oc- 
casionally a  few  words  of  criticism.  He  has 
left  letters  to  Cicero,  Seneca,  Livy,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Homer,  and  many  others. 

Next  to  Cicero  he  loved  Virgil.  The  first, 
he  said,  seemed  to  him  like  a  father,  the 
second  like  a  brother.  It  was  in  his  copy  of 
Virgil  that  he  recorded  the  death  of  Laura 
and  the  death  of  his  son,  as  if  confiding  his 
sorrows  to  a  trusted  friend. 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN.  1 5 

Petrarch's  wonderful  popularity,  his  literary 
royalty,  was  due  more  than  all  else  to  this 
enthusiasm  for  antiquity,  which  with  him 
amounted  to  such  a  passion,  such  a  fanati- 
cism, that  he  was  able  to  impart  a  portion  of 
his  own  ardor  to  every  one  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  He  was  opening  to  his 
contemporaries  a  new  world,  and  urging  and 
entreating  them  to  enter  therein.  He  was 
preaching  not  a  new  religion,  but  a  new 
civilization.  "  Not  only  in  the  literary  his- 
tory of  Italy,"  says  Voigt,  "  but  in  that  of 
the  civilized  world,  and  not  only  in  this  but 
also  in  the  spiritual  history  of  humanity, 
Petrarch's  name  shines  as  a  star  of  the  first 
magnitude ;  and  it  would  not  appear  less  if 
he  had  never  written  a  verse  in  the  Tuscan 
tongue.  .  .  .  We  may  forget  his  labors,  but 
only  as  we  forget  the  foundations  of  a  build- 
ing while  dwelling  at  ease  in  its  spacious 
apartments."  1 

1  Wiederbelebung  des  classischer  Alterthums. 


16  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

For  some  of  the  weaknesses  of  the  Renais- 
sance, Petrarch  is  not  responsible, — in  particu- 
lar, its  conflict  with  Christianity.  For  him 
there  was  no  contradiction  between  the  grand 
thoughts  of  the  pagan  authors  and  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel.  "  I  follow  no  sect,"  he  said, 
"  but  only  truth.  Sometimes  I  am  a  peripa- 
tetic, at  others  a  stoic,  then  an  academician, 
and  again  I  am  none  of  these  when  it  con- 
cerns some  philosophical  teaching  which 
seems  to  be  in  opposition  to  our  true  and 
holy  faith.  If  there  were  any  danger  that 
these  philosophical  doctrines  would  withdraw 
me  from  the  highest  good,  I  would  freely 
turn  my  back  upon  Plato  and  Aristotle,  upon 
Varro  and  Cicero."  1  His  love  for  the  classics 
never  lessened  his  esteem  for  the  Bible,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  scholars  of  the  sixteenth 
century ;  nor  had  he  their  contempt  for  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church.  He  accepted  truth 
wherever  he  found  it;  and  he  loved  Saint  Au- 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  vi.  2. 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN  1J 

gustine  as  if  he  had  been  an  ancient  Roman, 
because  he  met  in  his  "  Confessions  "  with  a 
genuine  human  soul. 

In  another  respect  his  successors  failed  to 
reach  the  high  level  upon  which  Petrarch 
stood.  Like  him,  they  adored  the  past,  they 
cultivated  the  Latin  tongue,  they  surpassed 
their  master  in  many  of  the  studies  which 
he  inaugurated,  "  as  the  schoolboy  of  a  new 
generation  may  surpass  in  his  knowledge  of 
geography  the  discoverer  of  a  new  conti- 
nent," but  they  never  attained  to  Petrarch's 
lofty  conception  of  Italian  unity.  His  ideal 
of  Italy  as  a  nation  is  only  realized  in  the 
present  age. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  faults  of  Petrarch, 
—  of  his  vanity,  his  many  inconsistencies,  his 
ennui  and  restlessness ;  but  his  very  weak- 
nesses are  such  as  serve  to  emphasize  his 
detachment  from  the  environment  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  his  relation  to  the  modern 
world.     His  vanity  was  but  the  natural  out- 


1 8  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

come  of  his  discovery  of  the  duty  of  self- 
development.  This  self  upon  which  he  had 
labored  so  assiduously  claimed  recognition. 
It  was  simply  one  phase  of  the  desire  for 
fame,  —  a  motive  by  which  mediaeval  man  had 
not  been  governed.  The  latter  had  been 
taught  to  humble  and  mortify  self,  and  had 
often  been  content  to  continue  the  works  of 
other  men  without  attaching  his  own  name 
to  them.  If  it  had  occurred  to  him  to  write 
a  "  Letter  to  Posterity,"  he  would  have  filled 
it  with  precepts  concerning  the  littleness  of 
man  and  the  nothingness  of  this  world,  rather 
than  with  a  description  of  himself  and  an  ac- 
count of  his  own  achievements. 

Petrarch,  with  his  new  consciousness  of  the 
dignity  of  the  individual,  was  not  content  to 
labor  simply  for  the  good  of  mankind,  and 
then  vanish  from  the  world  and  leave  no  trace 
of  himself.  He  longed  to  live  in  the  minds 
of  men  as  did  those  dead  authors  with  whom 
he  was  in  daily  communion ;  and,  as  some  as- 


FIRST  MODERN  MAN  1 9 

surance  of  this  immortality,  he  thirsted  for 
recognition  from  his  contemporaries.  As  to 
Petrarch's  contradictions  and  inconsistencies, 
he  has  himself  greatly  exaggerated  them. 
His  excessive  introspection,  his  self-preoccu- 
pation, led  him  to  attach  undue  importance 
to  his  own  varying  moods. 

His  ennui  and  restlessness  were  due  to 
the  lack  of  harmony  which  he  felt  between 
himself  and  his  environment.  "  Oh,  that 
I  had  lived  when  those  great  men  lived ! " 
he  was  constantly  exclaiming.  The  man 
who  marks  a  transition  from  the  old  to 
the  new  must  necessarily  be  restless  and 
discontented. 

Had  Petrarch  been  less  vain,  less  inconsis- 
tent, more  evenly  balanced,  he  might  indeed 
have  made  a  pattern  mediaeval  saint,  but  he 
would  not  have  impressed  himself  upon  the 
age  as  he  did,  he  would  not  have  influenced 
the  minds  of  men  for  two  centuries  after  his 
death.     He  deserves  to   be  remembered  for 


20  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

his  matchless  lyrics;  he  deserves  to  be  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  great  triumvirate 
who  created  the  Italian  language  and  inaugu- 
rated the  Italian  literature ;  but  above  all  he 
deserves  to  be  remembered  as  the  "  discoverer 
of  the  new  world  of  Humanism  "  and  the  in- 
spired advocate  of  Italian  unity. 


EARLY  YEARS.  21 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARLY  YEARS. 

"  T  WAS  born  at  Arezzo,"  says  Petrarch, 
-*•  "  at  dawn  of  day,  on  Monday,  the  20th 
of  July,  1304.  My  parents  were  in  humble 
condition,  —  to  tell  the  truth,  inclined  to 
poverty,  —  and  exiled  from  Florence,  their 
country." 

This  same  Monday  was  also  an  important 
day  in  the  history  of  Florence;  and  for  many 
years  the  Florentines  observed  its  anniversary 
as  a  public  holiday,  wholly  unconscious  that 
they  were  celebrating  at  the  same  time 
the  birthday  of  the  second  great  poet  of 
Italy. 

The  battle  of  Lastra  was  the  most 
determined    effort    made    by  the    party  of 


22  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

the  banished  Whites,  to  return  by  force  to 
Florence.  Their  attack  was  made  from 
Arezzo,  and  it  would  seem  that  they  might 
have  succeeded  but  for  their  own  haste  and 
imprudence.  As  it  turned  out,  however,  the 
invaders  were  seized  with  panic,  and  fled  in 
confusion,  leaving  the  Blacks  in  peace,  to 
celebrate  their  victory.  In  this  defeated 
army,  hastening  back  in  wild  disorder  to 
Arezzo,  was  the  father  of  Petrarch.  During 
his  absence  the  son  had  been  born  who 
was  to  make  the  day  memorable  when  the 
battle,  and  the  divisions  which  caused  it,  were 
forgotten. 

The  Whites  who  were  thus  in  arms  against 
their  native  city,  had  been  banished  from 
Florence  two  years  before,  their  estates  con- 
fiscated, and  their  homes  destroyed.  Among 
the  six  hundred  citizens  thus  driven  into  exile 
were  Dante  Alighieri  and  the  father  of  Pe- 
trarch. That  no  influential  members  of  the 
White  party  might  be  left  in  the  city,  special 


EARLY  YEARS.  2$ 

charges  were  trumped  up  against  those  whose 
names  had  been  overlooked  in  the  first  pro- 
scription. Petracco,  the  father  of  Petrarch, 
was  one  of  those  thus  found  worthy  of  a 
separate  sentence.  As  a  notary,  and  chan- 
cellor of  the  recent  municipal  reforms,  he  was 
accused  of  having  forged  a  false  enactment, 
and  was  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of  a 
thousand  livres  within  ten  days,  or  lose  his 
right  hand. 

He  preferred  exile  to  either  alternative,  and 
withdrew  with  his  wife  to  Arezzo,  —  the  little 
Ghibelline  city,  which  was  the  natural  refuge 
of  the  exiles.  The  latter  had  no  thought  of 
tamely  accepting  the  decree  of  banishment. 
Relying  on  a  continuation  of  the  past  his- 
tory of  Florence,  which  was  one  long  suc- 
cession of  mutual  banishments  and  restora- 
tions, they  regarded  their  misfortunes  as  tem- 
porary, and  hoped  that  another  turn  of  the 
wheel  would  not  only  restore  them  to  their 
homes,  but  place  them  again  in  power. 


24  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  his  exile 
Petracco  was  occupied  with  the  struggles  of 
his  party  to  recover  their  rights  ;  but  after  the 
unfortunate  battle  of  Lastra  he  lost  confidence 
in  these  efforts,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the 
support  of  his  family. 

The  son  born  to  him  was  named  Francesco 
di  Petracco  (the  son  of  Petracco).  For  the 
sake  of  euphony,  the  poet  afterward  softened 

the  name  to  Petrarca. 

« 

The  little  Francesco  remained  only  half  a 
year  in  Arezzo,  but  the  city  always  valued  the 
honor  of  being  the  birthplace  of  so  great  a 
man.  Upon  his  return,  more  than  forty  years 
later,  the  officials  pointed  out  to  him  the 
house  where  he  was  born,  "  not  large  or  mag- 
nificent, but  suitable  for  an  exile  ;  "  and  he 
was  gratified  to  learn  that  any  alteration  had 
been  forbidden  by  the  authorities. 

When  Petrarch  was  seven  months  old,  his 
mother  received  permission  to  return  to  the 
Florentine   territory.     She   settled  in    Incisa, 


EARLY  YEARS.  2$ 

a  little  village  fourteen  miles  from  Florence, 
where  Petracco  had  an  estate  which  for  some 
reason  —  perhaps  because  it  was  claimed  by 
his  wife  as  her  dower  —  had  escaped  con- 
fiscation. 

The  journey  to  Incisa  was  not  without  inci- 
dent, for  it  came  near  being  fatal  to  the  little 
Francesco,  or  Checco,  as  he  was  familiarly 
called.  He  had  been  intrusted  to  the  care  of 
a  servant,  who  wrapped  the  child  in  a  cloth, 
fastened  the  knots  to  a  stout  stick,  and  slung 
the  bundle  over  his  shoulder.  In  crossing 
the  Arno  his  horse  stumbled,  and  the  ser- 
vant with  his  living  burden  was  thrown 
into  the  river,  where  both  narrowly  escaped 
drowning. 

In  1842,  the  dilapidated  old  house  in  In- 
cisa which  had  been  occupied  by  Petrarch's 
mother,  was  honored  with  an  inscription  to 
the  effect  that  within  these  walls  the  poet 
learned  the  use  of  his  mother-tongue.  And 
certainly  the  fact  that  in  these  first  years  of 


26  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH, 

his  life  he  learned  the  Tuscan  idiom  instead 
of  any  other,  was  of  no  small  importance. 

Seven  years  were  spent  at  Incisa  with  occa- 
sional fugitive  visits  from  Petracco,  the  father. 
In  131 2,  Petracco  summoned  his  little  family, 
which  had  been  increased  by  the  addition  of 
another  son,  to  live  with  him  in  Pisa. 

A  year  later,  when  the  death  of  the  em- 
peror, Henry  VII.,  had  destroyed  the  last 
hope  of  a  return  to  Florence,  Petracco  re- 
solved to  leave  Italy  altogether,  and  to  estab- 
lish himself  at  Avignon,  in  Provence,  where, 
on  account  of  the  presence  of  the  Papal 
court,  he  hoped  to  find  special  opportunities 
for  a  man  of  his  profession. 

The  windy  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone, 
with  its  narrow,  dirty,  evil-smelling  streets, 
has  been  repeatedly  described  by  Petrarch, 
who  always- hated  Avignon  for  having  robbed 
Rome  of  her  rightful  dignity  as  the  seat  of 
the  Church. 

The  presence  of  the  Pope  and  the  cardi- 


EARLY   YEARS.  2J 

nals,  together  with  the  crowd  of  strangers 
which  naturally  gathers  around  the  Papal 
court,  made  it  a  difficult  matter  to  find  a 
home  in  Avignon.  Petracco  therefore  set- 
tled his  family  in  Carpentras,  a  little  city  a 
few  miles  distant,  while  he  himself  remained 
at  Avignon. 

From  an  old  Italian,  Convennole,  who  had 
established  a  school  at  Carpentras,  Petrarch 
received  his  first  regular  instruction,  "  learn- 
ing a  smattering  of  grammar,  and  as  much  of 
dialectics  and  rhetoric  as  the  age  could  afford." 

The  old  schoolmaster  was  an  erratic  genius 
who  had  spent  all  his  life  in  teaching,  but 
who  had  an  ambition  to  shine  in  literature. 
He  was  always  beginning  some  pretentious 
work,  for  which  he  would  prepare  a  magni- 
ficent titlepage,  then  cast  it  aside  to  turn  his 
fickle  mind  to  some  other  subject.  He  was 
an  impractical  man  who  was  always  in  diffi- 
culties, from  which  his  friends  were  obliged 
to  extricate  him. 


28  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch's  father  was  among  those  who  had 
been  generous  to  him ;  and  after  his  father's 
death  Petrarch  continued  to  assist  him  with 
gifts  of  money  and  the  loan  of  books,  which 
the  old  man  pawned  to  relieve  his  necessities. 
In  this  way  the  manuscript  of  one  of  Cicero's 
works  was  lost  to  Petrarch  and  to  the  world. 

Convennole  was  nevertheless  an  excellent 
teacher,  and  Petrarch  compares  him  to  the 
whetstone  of  Horace,  "which  sharpens  steel 
but  cannot  cut."  He  had  in  the  poet  a 
brilliant  pupil,  who  at  the  age  when  other 
boys  were  occupied  with  ^Esop,  was  reading 
Cicero,  fascinated  with  the  beauty  of  the 
style. 

Petrarch  was  greatly  attached  to  his  old 
schoolmaster ;  and  forty  years  later,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Guido  Settimo,  the  earliest  friend  of  his 
childhood,  he  speaks  with  enthusiasm  of  those 
four  happy  years  spent  at  Carpentras. 

As  a  notary  and  the  descendant  of  nota- 
ries, Petracco  naturally  destined  his  son  for 


EARLY   YEARS.  29 

the  same  profession,  the  law  being  then  con- 
sidered one  of  the  surest  avenues  to  wealth 
and  distinction.  Accordingly  Petrarch,  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  was  sent  to  Montpellier  to 
begin  his  legal  studies.  The  youth  at  first 
offered  no  opposition  to  his  father's  plans; 
but  as  his  mind  matured,  and  his  love  for 
the  classics  increased,  the  "  Pandects  "  and  the 
"  Corpus  Juris  "  were  sadly  neglected.  The 
periods  of  Cicero  had  spoiled  his  ear  for 
the  barbarous  Latin  of  the  lawyers. 

So  great  was  his  love  for  his  favorite  Latin 
author,  that  he  says,  "  There  was  no  pastime, 
or  any  other  pleasant  thing,  on  which  I  would 
not  willingly  have  turned  my  back  to  delve 
in  the  books  of  Cicero."  This  taste  was  par- 
tially derived  from  his  father,  who  was  himself 
a  scholar,  "  and  who  might  have  accomplished 
great  things  in  letters,"  says  Petrarch,  "  had 
not  exile  and  the  care  of  a  family  forced  him 
to  turn  all  his  energies  in  other  directions." 

Petracco,  however,  no  longer  encouraged 


30  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

this  taste  when  he  found  it  was  leading  his 
son  to  neglect  what  he  considered  the  more 
practical  studies.  He  urged  him  to  apply 
himself  to  the  civil  code,  to  learn  the  laws  of 
lending  and  borrowing,  of  wills  and  codicils, 
lands  and  estates,  and  to  thrust  into  a  corner 
the  books  of  Cicero,  "  although  they  contain 
the  more  healthful  laws  of  life." 

Notwithstanding  the  wishes  of  his  father, 
Petrarch  continued  to  devote  his  time  to  the 
study  of  the  classics,  collecting  as  many  man- 
uscripts as  he  was  able,  but  keeping  them 
carefully  concealed  from  unfriendly  eyes. 
The  notary  one  day  made  an  unexpected 
descent  upon  his  son,  and  discovered  the 
precious  manuscripts.  In  his  anger  he  drew 
them  forth  from  their  hiding-place  and  threw 
them  into  the  fire,  "  as  though  they  were 
works  of  heretical  depravity."  Petrarch 
burst  into  tears.  "  I  suffered,"  he  says,  "  as 
if  the  flames  had  been  destroying  my  own 
flesh." 


EARLY  YEARS.  3  I 

Moved  by  his  tears  and  passionate  entreat- 
ies, the  father  finally  snatched  from  the 
flames  two  books,  already  half  burned,  and 
handing  him  with  one  hand  Virgil  and  with 
the  other  the  Rhetoric  of  Cicero,  said  smiling, 
"  You  may  keep  one  to  console  yourself  at 
rare  intervals,  and  the  other  for  encourage- 
ment and  aid  in  the  study  of  the  law." 

After  four  years  at  Montpellier  Petrarch 
was  sent  to  Bologna  to  complete  his  legal 
studies.  At  that  time  the  University  of 
Bologna  was  second  only  to  that  of  Paris, 
and  was  especially  famed  for  its  professors  of 
jurisprudence. 

Petrarch  was  no  more  reconciled  to  the 
course  of  study  chosen  for  him  than  he  had 
been  at  Montpellier,  but  the  three  years  spent 
at  Bologna  were  nevertheless  happy  and  quiet 
ones, —  years  which  he  loved  to  recall  in  his  old 
age.  It  was  Italian  soil,  always  very  dear  to 
Petrarch.  The  city  with  its  fifteen  thousand 
students  was  in  such  an  exceptionally  pros- 


32  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

perous  and  peaceful  condition  that  no  high 
walls  were  needed  for  protection,  and  the  city 
gates  were  rarely  closed ;  so  that  Petrarch  and 
his  friends,  returning  late  at  night  from  their 
long  rambles  in  the  country,  had  no  difficulty 
in  getting  into  the  city. 

His  companions  were  his  younger  brother 
Gerardo  and  Guido  Settimo,  who  had  been 
his  friend  and  fellow-student  at  Carpentras. 
He  formed  here  many  other  friendships  which 
lasted  through  life,  —  for  Petrarch  had  to  a  re- 
markable degree  the  gift  of  attracting  people 
to  him,  and  of  preserving  their  affection. 

With  the  death  of  Petrarch's  father,  in  1326, 
the  life  at  Bologna  came  to  an  end,  and  the 
brothers  for  the  second  time  departed  from 
Italian  soil.  It  is  thought  by  some  authorities 
that  the  poet's  mother  died  soon  after  her 
husband,  while  others  believe  her  to  have  been 
living  several  years  later.  Not  only  is  it  im- 
possible to  give  accurate  information  con- 
cerning  the    death    of    the   poor    lady,    but 


EARLY   YEARS.  33 

there  is  also  warm  discussion  as  to  her  very- 
identity. 

But  since  Petrarch  has  so  rarely  mentioned 
his  mother,  and  since  she  seems  to  have  ex- 
erted so  little  influence  upon  his  life,  it  mat- 
ters little  to  history  whether  she  were  named 
Eletta  Canigiani,  and  died  in  1326,  or  whether 
she  were  Nicolosa,  daughter  of  Cino  Sigoli, 
who  was  still  living  in  1331.1 

Petrarch  indeed  composed  a  poem,  in  her 
honor,  consisting  of  thirty-eight  verses,  cor- 
responding to  the  thirty-eight  years  of  her 
life,  but  the  lines  are  stiff  and  pedantic  and  be- 
tray little  feeling  and  less  genius.  They  are 
only  remarkable  for  the  prophecy  that  both 
he  and  his  mother  will  be  remembered  by 
posterity,  showing  that  the  writer  at  a  very 
early  age  had  confidence  in  his  own  destiny. 

1    For    the    different   solutions    of     this    question    see 
Fracassetti,  Koerting,  and  Mezieres. 


34  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER   III. 


AVIGNON. 


XJO  sooner  was  Petrarch  made  his  own 
master  than  he  abandoned  at  once 
and  forever  the  hated  law  studies,  nor  did 
he  ever  cease  to  mourn  the  years  spent  in 
that  pursuit  as  the  seven  lost  years  of  his 
life. 

"I  abandoned  it,  not  because  the  authority  of 
the  laws  was  irksome  to  me,  which  doubtless  is 
great,  and  redolent  of  that  Roman  antiquity  in 
which  I  delight,  but  because  the  practice  of  those 
laws  is  depraved  by  the  wickedness  of  men.  I 
was  disgusted  at  the  thought  of  having  to  study 
thoroughly  that  which  I  was  resolved  not  to  turn  to 
dishonorable  uses,  and  I  could  scarcely  turn  to 
honorable,  for  such  prudery  would  have  been 
attributed  to  ignorance."  * 

1  Letter  to  Posterity. 


AVIGNON.  35 


In  spite  of  the  misfortunes  of  exile, 
Petracco  had  amassed  some  fortune ;  but 
everything  was  swallowed  up  by  dishonest 
executors,  with  the  exception  of  a  manu- 
script of  Cicero,  of  which  they  did  not  know 
the  value.  Thrown  upon  his  own  resources, 
Petrarch  was  obliged  to  choose  a  profession 
in  place  of  the  one  which  he  had  abandoned. 
He  entered  the  Church,  as  that  seemed  to 
promise  him  the  most  liberty  for  the  pursuit 
of  the  classical  studies  which  with  every  day 
were  growing  more  dear  to  him. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  Petrarch  as- 
sumed the  clerical  garb,  not  through  devo- 
tion to  the  Church,  but  as  a  means  of  support 
which  would  enable  him  to  fulfil  the  mission 
upon  which  he  had  already  entered,  —  that  of 
"  opening  the  gates  of  antiquity  to  the  mod- 
ern world." 

That  he  should  have  settled  at  Avignon, 
the  city  that  he  hated  for  having  usurped 
the  rights  of  Rome,  —  the  city  upon  which  he 


36  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

loved  to  lavish  opprobrious  epithets,  calling 
it  the  sink  of  iniquity,  the  modern  Babylon, 
—  can  only  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  he 
hoped  for  some  advantage  from  the  Papal 
court.  Notwithstanding  his  abuse  of  Avig- 
non, that  city  furnished  a  favorable  atmos- 
phere for  a  young  man  of  letters,  just 
beginning  his  career.  The  Pontifical  court 
had  indeed  lost  much  of  its  power  since  the 
days  of  Boniface  VIII.,  and  its  dignity  and 
prestige  had  been  greatly  weakened  by  the 
removal  to  Avignon,  but  it  was  still  able  to 
gather  about  it  a  cultivated  circle,  com- 
posed of  scholars  and  prelates  from  all  parts 
of  the  world.  The  society  at  Avignon  was 
cosmopolitan,  with  interests  widely  different 
from  those  of  the  Italian  cities,  absorbed  in 
their  own  political  feuds. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  Bologna,  Pe- 
trarch gained  a  friend  whose  influence  and 
patronage  were  of  the  greatest  importance  in 
shaping   his   whole  future.     James    Colonna 


AVIGNON.  37 


was  the  seventh  son  of  the  renowned  old 
Roman  noble,  Stephen  Colonna,  head  of  the 
powerful  family  then  playing  so  important  a 
rdle  in  the  history  of  Rome.  The  young 
Colonna  had  been  a  fellow-student  at  Bo- 
logna, had  noticed  Petrarch  among  the 
multitude  who  wore  the  students'  garb,  and 
had  been  pleased  with  his  appearance;  but 
the  acquaintance  had  gone  no  farther. 
When  he  saw  him  again  on  the  streets  of 
Avignon,  and  learned  that  he  was  an  Italian, 
a  poet,  and  poor,  he  summoned  him  to  his 
house.  "  I  had  already  begun  to  be  known," 
says  the  poet,  in  his  "  Letter  to  Posterity," 
"  and  my  acquaintance  to  be  sought  by  men 
of  eminence,  though  why,  I  confess  now  I 
know  not,  and  wonder.  At  that  time,  how- 
ever, after  the  fashion  of  young  men,  I  was 
not  surprised,  seeming  to  myself  well  worthy 
of  all  honor." 

Petrarch,  a  born  courtier,  had  no  difficulty 
in  confirming  the  good  impression  already 


38  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

made,  while  on  his  own  part  he  was  com- 
pletely captivated  by  the  winning  manners 
and  courteous  bearing  of  his  new  friend.  A 
warm  friendship  sprang  up  between  them, 
founded  upon  genuine  esteem  and  affection 
on  both  sides.  In  the  last  year  of  his  life 
Petrarch  drew  an  enthusiastic  picture  of  this 
first  patron :  — 

"  I  never  saw,  nor  do  I  think  there  was  ever  in 
the  world,  a  man  with  more  pleasant  and  courteous 
manners,  —  wise,  virtuous,  brave,  modest  in  pros- 
perity, and  firm  in  adversity.  In  eloquence  there 
were  none  to  compare  with  him.  He  held  in  his 
hand  the  key  of  all  hearts,  and  whether  he  spoke  to 
clergy  or  people  he  was  sure  of  moving  all  who 
heard  him  to  his  will.  Singularly  devoted  to  his 
family,  liberal  with  his  friends,  generous  beyond 
measure  to  the  poor,  affable  and  gracious  with  all. 
This  man  then,  to  whom  Nature  had  given  such 
majesty  of  countenance  and  of  person,  that  seeing 
him  in  a  crowd  you  would  have  taken  him  for  a 
prince,  so  charmed  me  with  the  bait  of  his  manners 
and  his  words,  that  he  took  possession  of  my  heart 
and  never  left  it." l 

1  Let.  Sen.,  xvi.  i. 


A  VIGNON.  39 


James  Colonna  was  also  in  the  Church,  and 
was  early  enabled  to  render  signal  service  to 
the  Pope,  whereby  he  obtained  promotion  to 
the  bishopric  of  Lombes,  although  he  had  not 
yet  reached  the  canonical  age. 

In  1330,  the  new  bishop  prepared  to  visit 
the  seat  of  his  bishopric  in  Gascony,  at  the 
foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  invited  Petrarch  to 
accompany  him.  Among  the  companions 
of  the  bishop  were  two  other  young  men  who 
were  soon  numbered  among  the  friends  of 
the  poet,  and  to  whom  he  remained  devotedly 
attached  while  they  lived. 

One  of  them  was  an  Italian,  Lello,  to  whom 
Petrarch  gave  the  name  of  Laelius,  in  honor 
of  the  friend  of  Scipio.  Lello  was  of  a  noble 
Roman  family,  and  was,  in  disposition,  says 
his  friend,  "  an  ancient  Roman."  He  was 
employed  by  James  Colonna  as  his  secretary 
until  the  death  of  the  latter,  in  1341,  when  he 
returned  to  Rome,  and  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  political  turmoil  of  his  native  city. 


40  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

The  other  new  friend  was  the  German, 
Lewis,  of  barbarian  origin  in  the  opinion  of 
Petrarch  and  other  Italians,  but  as  enthusi- 
astic in  his  love  for  Italy  and  for  all  things 
Italian  as  Petrarch  himself.  To  him,  Petrarch 
for  some  fanciful  reason  gave  the  name  of 
Socrates,  addressing  him  always  by  that  name 
during  thirty  years  of  the  closest  friendship. 

Many  of  the  poet's  letters  are  addressed 
to  these  two  friends,  and  the  collection  of 
"  Familiar  Letters  "  is  dedicated  to  Socrates. 
One  of  the  finest  of  them  was  written  on  the 
occasion  of  a  quarrel  between  Socrates  and 
Laelius,  and  discourses  eloquently  of  the  du- 
ties and  pleasures  of  friendship. 

Petrarch  declares  that  he  has  greater  natu- 
ral inclination  for  friendship  than  for  anything 
else;  and  certainly  his  relations  with  those 
whom  he  admitted  to  his  intimacy  are  ex- 
ceptional for  constancy  and  disinterestedness, 
—  the  ruling  qualities  of  ideal  friendship. 

With    these    three    friends    he    spent    at 


AVIGNON.  41 


Lombes  "  an  almost  heavenly  summer,"  he 
says,  "  so  delightful  that  I  always  sigh  when 
thinking  of  that  time." 

Upon  his  return  to  Avignon,  the  bishop 
presented  Petrarch  to  his  brother,  Cardinal 
John  Colonna,  "  a  man  illustrious  and  blame- 
less among  cardinals,"  who  received  the  poet 
under  his  own  roof,  where  he  remained  for 
years,  "  not  as  it  were,  under  a  patron,  but 
under  a  father,  —  nay,  not  even  that,  say 
rather,  a  most  affectionate  brother, — with 
whom  I  lived  as  if  at  home  and  in  my  own 
house."  Petrarch  was  also  introduced  in 
the  same  year  to  the  father  of  his  patrons, 
the  aged  Stephen  Colonna,  who  gave  him  his 
friendship  and  confidence,  treating  him  almost 
as  one  of  his  sons. 

The  patronage  of  the  Colonna  family  was 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  poet,  in 
that  it  released  him  from  all  pecuniary  cares, 
and  left  him  free  to  pursue  his  chosen  studies. 
His  residence  in  the  Colonna  palace  was  also 


42  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

of  advantage  to  Petrarch  in  spreading  his 
fame  abroad ;  for  of  the  foreigners  who 
thronged  Avignon  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
the  most  distinguished  frequented  the  house 
of  Cardinal  Colonna,  and  carried  from  thence 
to  their  respective  homes  favorable  accounts 
of  the  young  poet.  He  also  made  use  of 
these  foreign  friends  to  further  the  pursuit 
of  those  classical  studies  into  which  he  had 
thrown  himself  with  so  much  enthusiasm. 
When  they  departed  from  Avignon,  and 
offered,  as  was  customary,  to  perform  some 
service  for  him  in  their  own  country,  he 
only  asked  of  them  to  send  him  such  manu- 
scripts of  Cicero  and  other  Latin  authors  as 
they  might  find  hidden  in  libraries. 

The  Petrarch  with  whom  we  are  familiar 
from  his  portraits,  in  the  clerical  garb  and 
wreath  of  laurel,  and  with  a  serious  and  placid 
face,  was  not  the  Petrarch  known  in  Avignon 
as  the  protigt  of  the  Colonnas.  At  that 
time  he  was  an  elegant  young  society  man, 


A  VIGNON.  43 


a  devotee  of  fashion.  In  a  letter  to  his 
brother  Gerardo,  written  many  years  later,  he 
gives  an  amusing  description  of  himself  at 
this  period  of  his  life :  — 

"  You  remember,  my  brother,  what  our  life  was 
once,  and  what  pains,  what  suffering  our  pleasures 
cost  us  ?  You  remember  our  foolish  anxiety  for  ex- 
quisite elegance  of  attire,  which,  although  growing 
less  from  day  to  day,  has  never  wholly  left  me  ? 
What  trouble  to  change  our  clothes  morning  and 
evening,  what  fear  lest  a  breath  of  air  should  disturb 
our  carefully  curled  locks  !  How  anxiously  we 
watched  every  passing  horse,  lest  a  drop  of  mud 
soil  our  gorgeous  mantles,  or  a  rude  jar  disarrange 
their  perfumed  folds  !  Oh,  foolish  cares  of  men,  and 
especially  of  young  men,  who  take  so  much  trouble 
to  please  others' !  And  what  others  ?  Those  for 
whom  they  care  nothing.  What  folly  to  adorn  the 
person,  not  according  to  the  dictates  of  reason,  but 
at  the  will  of  the  vulgar  crowd,  and  to  govern  our 
lives  by  the  opinions  of  those  whose  lives  we 
despise.  Quite  otherwise  it  seemed  to  us  then, 
however ;  and  we  were  rewarded  for  all  our  trouble 
and  pains  by  the  knowledge  that  the  eyes  of  all 
were  fixed  on  us.  .  .  .  And  what  shall  I  say  of 
our  shoes,  which  made  to  protect  the  feet,  served 


44  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

only  to  produce  torture  and  martyrdom  ?  My  feet 
would  have  been  rendered  useless  for  their  office,  if, 
warned  by  necessity,  I  had  not  preferred  the  sacrifice 
of  vain  appearances  to  the  continuous  torture  of 
nerves  and  bones.  And  then  the  curling-irons,  and 
the  torments  of  hairdressing  !  How  often  were  our 
slumbers  disturbed  by  that  painful  operation  !  What 
pirate  could  have  treated  us  more  cruelly  than  we 
treated  ourselves  in  that  process  ?  How  often,  upon 
waking  in  the  morning,  did  the  mirror  show  us  fore- 
heads so  ploughed  with  wrinkles  that  instead  of  dis- 
playing our  frizzled  locks  we  were  constrained  to 
hide  our  disfigured  faces."1 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  x.  3. 


LAURA.  45 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LAURA. 

TT  was  this  elegant  young  clerical  dandy, 
■*-  carefully  curled  and  perfumed,  with  gor- 
geous cloak  and  pointed  shoes,  who  on  an 
April  morning  more  than  five  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago  strolled  into  the  church  of 
Santa  Clara,  at  Avignon,  and  there  saw  the 
face  which  at  once  and  forever  stamped  itself 
upon  his  heart. 

Concerning  the  identity  of  Laura  there  is 
wide  divergence  of  opinion,  the  point  of  dif- 
ference being  whether  she  were  a  maid  or  a 
wife,  or  a  phantom  of  the  poet's  brain. 

Critics  are  not  wanting  who  dispute  the 
existence  of  Laura,  who  would  make  of  her, 
as  of  the  Beatrice  of  Dante  and  the  Fiam- 
metta  of  Boccaccio,  an  allegory,  a  personifi- 


46  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

cation  of  poetry,  or  of  the  laurel-tree,  —  the 
emblem  of  fame.  This  theory  is  not  a  new 
one.  It  was  advanced  in  the  lifetime  of  Pe- 
trarch by  one  of  his  dearest  and  most  intimate 
friends,  James  Colonna,  who  in  a  letter  to 
the  poet  accused  him  of  having  created  an 
imaginary  Laura,  and  of  having  pretended  to 
be  enamoured  of  her,  in  order  to  have  a  subject 
for  his  verses,  and  to  get  himself  talked  about. 
He  pronounces  his  verses  a  fiction,  his  sighs 
feigned,  and  refuses  to  believe  in  any  Laura 
save  the  one  for  which  all  poets  sigh,  —  the 
laurel. 

To  this,  Petrarch  replies,  "  Would  to  Heaven 
it  were  true  that  my  love  was  a  fancy  and 
not  a  frenzy !  But  one  cannot  feign  long 
without  great  labor ;  and  to  labor  to  make  the 
world  believe  you  mad,  would  certainly  be  the 
height  of  folly.  Besides,  how  could  I  feign 
the  pallor,  the  emaciation,  which  you  have 
seen?"  » 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  ii.  9. 


LAURA.  47 


Yet  to  this  day  a  number  of  pens  are  em- 
ployed in  the  attempt  to  prove  Laura  a  myth. 
And  among  those  who  agree  that  the  person 
celebrated  in  Petrarch's  verses  was  a  real,  liv- 
ing woman,  there  is  lack  of  harmony  again, 
as  to  whether  she  were  a  maid  or  a  wife. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  a  Frenchman  — 
the  Abbe  de  Sade  —  claimed  to  have  settled 
the  question  definitely,  from  documents  found 
in  the  archives  of  his  own  family.  According 
to  his  account,  Laura  was  the  daughter  of 
Audibert  de  Noves,  was  born  in  Avignon  in 
1307,  married  in  1325  to  Hugo  de  Sade,  and 
after  bearing  him  eleven  children,  died  of  the 
plague,  in   1348. 

De  Sade's  hypothesis  is  very  ingenious,  is 
carefully  built  up  by  documents,  and  has  been 
accepted  without  question  by  a  great  many 
biographers.  Mezieres,  the  standard  French 
authority  on  the  subject,  declares  that  no 
serious  mind  can  longer  doubt  the  marriage 
of  Laura.     On  the  other  hand,  many  distin- 


48  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

guished  scholars  in  Germany  and  Italy  con- 
sider it  a  dishonor  to  Petrarch  to  receive  De 
Sade's  theory.  .  They  refuse  to  credit  his  doc- 
uments, and  stoutly  deny  that  the  object  of 
the  poet's  affection  was  the  wife  of  another 
man.  Koerting,  the  author  of  the  most  ex- 
haustive work  on  Petrarch  which  has  yet  ap- 
peared, accepts  the  marriage  of  Laura,  but 
rejects  the  eleven  children.  There  are  pas- 
sages in  her  lover's  writings  that  make  her 
marriage  almost  a  certainty. 

Those  who  are  offended  at  the  thought  of 
Petrarch's  bestowing  his  love  on  a  married 
woman,  should  remember  that  he  was  still 
very  near  the  days  of  the  Troubadours,  when 
such  a  thing  was  by  no  means  uncommon, 
and  that  the  standards  of  the  nineteenth 
century  will  not  apply  to  the  fourteenth. 

Each  of  these  theories  is  supported  by 
weighty  arguments,  mostly  founded  upon 
"  internal  evidence  "  obtained  from  different 
interpretations  of  Petrarch's  writings.     After 


LAURA.  49 


five  centuries  of  discussion,  the  question  is 
as  far  from  settlement  as  ever.  Granting 
the  authenticity  of  De  Sade's  documents 
(which  is  by  no  means  unquestioned),  they 
only  prove  that  his  ancestress  Laura  de 
Sade  died  in  the  same  year  and  month, 
and  perhaps  on  the  same  day,  on  which  the 
Laura  of  Petrarch  died,  and  that  she  was 
buried  in  the  same  church.  But  since  the 
plague  was  said  to  have  carried  off  nearly 
half  of  the  inhabitants  of  Avignon  in  that 
same  month  of  April,  it  may  easily  have  hap- 
pened that  two  Lauras  were  among  its  vic- 
tims, and  that  they  found  the  same  burial 
place.  The  abbe  lays  some  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  his  ancestress  was  known  to  have  in 
her  trousseau  a  green  dress  and  a  red  one, 
and  that  Petrarch  often  describes  his  lady  in 
those  colors. 

An  ancient  tradition  in  Avignon  had  as- 
signed Laura  to  the  family  of  De  Sade,  and 
in  the  sixteenth  century  her  supposed  tomb 

4 


50  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

was  opened  and  a  sonnet  found  therein,  as- 
cribed to  Petrarch.  Little  importance  is  now 
attached  to  this  pretended  discovery. 

Very  meagre  indeed  are  the  details  of  the 
life  of  Laura  which  can  be  given  with  any 
certainty.  But  what  matters  it  that  her  iden- 
tity is  lost,  that  we  cannot  prove  her  to  have 
been  the  wife  of  one  man  or  the  daughter  of 
another?  It  is  honor  enough  to  have  been 
remembered  for  five  hundred  years  as  the 
Laura  of  Petrarch. 

In  a  manuscript  copy  of  Virgil,  formerly 
owned  by  the  poet,  and  now  in  the  Ambrosian 
library  at  Milan,  is  a  note  believed  to  be  in 
his  handwriting,  which  records  the  day  of  his 
first  meeting  with  her  as  well  as  the  date  of 
her  death  and  the  place  of  her  burial.  This 
record  contains  nearly  all  that  we  know 
'  of  Laura,  except  the  fact  that  from  that 
April  morning,  when  with  one  glance  she 
took  possession  of  his  soul,  until  her  death 
twenty-one     years     later,     Petrarch      never 


LAURA.  51 


ceased  to  celebrate  her  praises  in  melodious 
verse. 

Another  subject  which  has  given  rise  to 
endless  discussion  is  the  nature  of  Petrarch's 
love.  Granting  the  reality  of  Laura,  was  the 
poet's  love  for  her  a  poetic  fiction,  a  pretext 
for  writing  verses?  Was  it  a  purely  Platonic 
affection,  a  thing  of  the  head  rather  than  the 
heart?  Or  was  it  a  real  and  genuine  human 
love  ?  If  we  avoid  all  theorizing  and  rely  only 
upon  the  testimony  of  Petrarch  himself,  we 
must  accept  the  latter  view ;  for  while  some 
of  the  sonnets  may  seem  cold  and  artificial, 
there  are  others  which  paint  the  torments 
and  uncertainties  of  love  as  only  he  who  has 
felt  them  can  paint  them.  Could  a  poet  who 
had  never  really  loved,  give  us  poems  which 
should  be  found  for  centuries  upon  the  lips 
of  lovers?  The  poems  that  live  are  the 
poems  of  experience,  — those  which  have 
lived  first  in  the  heart  of  the  writer. 

In  a  singular  Latin  treatise,  "  The  Secret," 


52  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

which  he  claims  was  written  for  himself  alone 
and  not  for  the  public,  Petrarch  gives  still  fur- 
ther insight  into  the  nature  of  his  love.  The 
work  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  with 
Saint  Augustine,  in  which  the  saint  reviews 
and  condemns  the  sins  and  faults  of  the  poet, 
while  the  latter  attempts  to  defend  and 
excuse  himself.  Augustine  reproves  him  for 
having  been  for  sixteen  years  the  slave  of  a 
woman,  and  portrays  his  unhappy  condition : 

"You  are  buried  in  groans,  you  have  reached 
a  point  where  you  feed  with  fatal  pleasure  on 
tears  and  sighs.  You  pass  sleepless  nights  calling 
on  the  name  of  the  loved  one.  You  despise  every- 
thing, hate  life,  desire  death,  flee  from  man,  and 
love  solitude.  When  she  appears,  the  sun  shines ; 
with  her  departure  night  returns ;  when  she  smiles 
you  are  gay ;  when  she  frowns  you  are  sad.  You 
are  nothing  but  a  tool  in  her  hands." 

Petrarch  refuses  to  admit  that  his  love  for 
Laura  can  be  a  sin.  He  has  loved  only  her 
soul,  he  says.  She  has  withdrawn  him  from 
everything   base,  and    taught   him   to    look 


LAURA.  53 


upward :  "  The  little  that  I  am,  I  am  through 
her.  Whatever  fame  or  glory  I  may  have, 
I  could  not  have  attained  if  the  weak  seed 
of  virtue  which  Nature  has  planted  in  my 
heart,  had  not  been  developed  by  this  noble 
affection. " 

Saint  Augustine,  however,  convinces  him  that 
there  is  much  that  is  earthly  mingled  with  his 
love,  and  that  it  is  due  to  Laura's  virtue  ana 
not  to  his  if  it  has  been  outwardly  blameless. 

Petrarch  is  never  weary  of  describing  his 
lady's  beauty,  —  her  ivory  teeth  and  snowy 
skin,  her  golden  hair,  forming  so  lovely  a  con- 
trast to  the  brilliant  black  eyes  which  can 
"  darken  the  night  or  lighten  the  day,  make 
honey  bitter  or  absinthe  sweet."  There  is  no 
proof  that  he  ever  received  from  Laura  one 
word  of  love  or  encouragement  in  return  for  all 
these  years  of  devotion,  these  songs  of  praise. 
His  poems  are  not  like  those  of  other  lovers, 
concerned  with  meetings  and  partings,  tender 
words  and    caresses  ;  they   deal    rather  with 


54  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

his  own  emotions  and  mental  states,  with 
the  effect  of  this  absorbing  passion  upon 
himself.  If  he  describes  her  as  now  meek, 
now  proud,  now  pitying,  now  unkind,  if  at  one 
moment  she  seems  to  him  "  gentle  above  all 
others,  good,  wise,  modest,  and  beautiful,"  at 
another  "  a  living  stone,  colder  than  the  snow," 
he  is  describing  his  own  moods  rather  than 
any  change  in  Laura.  From  all  that  can  be 
learned  of  her  there  is  not  the  slightest  rea- 
son for  calling  her,  as  does  Macaulay,  a  heart- 
less coquette,  or  for  pronouncing  her,  with 
Zefferino  Re,  a  creature  without  moral  beauty. 

The  few  slight  incidents  mentioned  in  the 
"  Canzoniere  "  seem  to  show  that  the  relation 
was  only  one  of  respectful  friendship.  A 
friendly  nod,  a  modest  glance,  an  ungloved 
hand,  suffice  to  call  forth  a  sonnet.  Did  she 
let  fall  a  glove  and  allow  her  lover  to  pick  it 
up,  he  had  matter  for  three  sonnets  on  "  that 
lovely  hand  which  holds  my  heart." 

The  evil  that  her  lover  says  of  her  is  more 


LAURA.  55 


than  effaced  by  the  good.  At  one  moment 
he  deplores  his  lost  liberty,  and  curses  his 
love  as  the  Medusa  who  has  turned  his  heart 
to  stone,  at  another  he  blesses  the  day,  the 
month,  the  year,  the  hour,  when  first  he  saw 
her  face.  These  contradictions  were  due  to 
the  conflict  continually  going  on  in  his  own 
heart ;  for  after  the  first  glow  of  youthful  fer- 
vor, his  love  began  to  be  poisoned  by  the  stings 
of  a  troubled  conscience.  His  remorse  was 
not  occasioned  by  the  thought  that  Laura  was 
the  wife  of  another,  nor  does  this  fact  seem  to 
have  entered  into  the  question.  Saint  Augus- 
tine in  his  reproof  makes  no  reference  to  it.  It 
was  love  in  itself  that  was  a  sin.  The  wrong 
consisted  in  lavishing  upon  any  human  being 
the  devotion  which  belongs  only  to  the 
Divine,  —  in  worshipping  the  creature  instead 
of  the  Creator.  Tormented  by  this  thought  he 
made  repeated  efforts  to  cure  himself  of  his 
passion  by  absence,  by  travel,  and  by  solitude  ; 
but   all   to  no  avail.     "  I  have  wandered  far 


$6  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

and  wide,"  he  says,  "  but  like  a  wounded  deer, 
I  carry  my  wound  always  with  me."  Her  face 
was  always  present,  whether  mirrored  in  the 
clear  waters  or  in  the  snow-white  clouds ;  her 
voice  was  heard  in  the  rustle  of  the  wind,  in  the 
song  of  the  bird,  or  the  ripple  of  the  fountain. 

At  times  he  believes  himself  cured,  and  able 
to  venture  back  in  safety  into  the  dread  pres- 
ence, but  no  sooner  does  he  set  foot  in 
Avignon  than  he  is  convinced  of  his  mistake. 
The  wound  is  only  superficially  healed.  "  My 
heart  is  so  accustomed  to  clinging  to  her,  and 
my  eyes  to  beholding  her,  to  drawing  life 
from  her,  that  not  to  love  her  would  be  to  die." 

The  conflict  between  love  and  mysticism 
continued  until  the  death  of  Laura;  and  to 
this,  more  than  to  the  hopelessness  of  his 
love,  was  due  the  melancholy  tone  of  his 
poems. 


TRAVELS.  57 


CHAPTER  V. 


TRAVELS. 


/^NE  observation  occurs  so  constantly  to 
^^  the  biographer  of  Petrarch  that  he  is  in 
danger  of  repeating  it  on  every  page.  It  is 
that  Petrarch  is  the  first  modern  man.  He 
has  not  indeed  entirely  freed  himself  from 
the  Middle  Ages,  he  still  stands  within  their 
grasp,  but  his  face  is  turned  toward  us.  His 
life  is  full  of  events  which  the  Germans  call 
"  epoch-making."  He  personifies  the  transi- 
tion from  the  tastes,  habits,  and  opinions  of 
the  Middle  Ages  to  those  of  the  modern 
world.  For  instance,  the  ascent  of  a  moder- 
ately high  mountain  is  to-day  so  ordinary  an 
affair  in  a  man's  life  that  it  is  hardly  deemed 
worthy  of  special  mention,  and  the  impor- 


58  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

tance  attached  to  Petrarch's  ascent  of  Mont 
Ventoux  seems  at  first  thought  out  of  pro- 
portion to  the  event.  But  had  it  ever  before 
occurred  to  mediaeval  man  to  clamber  up  the 
steep  and  rugged  sides  of  a  mountain,  merely 
for  the  sake  of  the  view  to  be  obtained 
from  the  summit?  If  a  shrine  were  placed 
there,  he  might  indeed  have  made  the  toil- 
some ascent  as  an  act  of  worship  or  of  pen- 
ance ;  but  he  would  never  have  thought  of 
undergoing  such  hardship  and  fatigue  with  no 
other  motive  than  a  love  of  the  picturesque. 
In  fact,  the  taste  for  landscape  was  not  yet 
awakened  in  him. 

Another  of  the  many  traits  which  show 
Petrarch's  departure  from  the  mediaeval  stand- 
point, is  the  love  of  travel  for  its  own  sake, — 
the  desire  for  change,  the  passion  for  behold- 
ing with  his  own  eyes  all  things  new  and 
strange.  "  I  know  not,"  he  says,  "  whether 
through  the  influence  of  the  stars  or  through 
the    natural    inconstancy   of    my    mind,    or 


TRA  VELS.  59 


through  the  hard  law  of  inevitable  necessity, 
or  for  some  other  reason  unknown  to  me,  I 
have  hitherto  spent  almost  all  my  life  in 
continuous  travel." 

So  unusual  was  this  taste  that  Petrarch 
frequently  feels  obliged  to  aoptogi; 
unsteady  life,  and  to  assigndifferent  reasons 
for  his  frequent  joup*eys,  not  the  j££st  impor- 
tant being  thexnope  of  discovering,  hidden 
away  in  the  libraries  of*"Europe,  unknown 
manuscripts  of  the  Latin  authors.  Another 
fuse  was  the  desire  to  free  himself  from 
the  yoke  of  passion  which  he  felt  was  a 
hindrance  to  his  highest  development  But 
neither  the  search  for  ancient  manuscripts 
nor  the  desire  to  escape  from  the  chains 
of  Laura  would  have  sufficed  to  drive  him 
from  country  to  country,  over  land  and  sea, 
had  they  not  been  seconded  by  that  rest- 
less curiosity  which  he  confesses  was  a 
part  of  his  nature.  "  Other  reasons  were 
invented,"  he  says,  "  to  recommend  my  going 


60  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

in  the  eyes  of  my  elders,  but  the  real 
reason  was  my  ardor  and  eagerness  for  new 
scenes." 

His  were  not  the  restless  wanderings  of  the 
exile,  moving  from  place  to  place  in  the  vain 
search  for  contentment  and  a  home.  His 
journeys  were  those  of  a  curious,  enthusi- 
astic traveller,  eager  to  see  the  world,  filled 
from  his  youth,  he  says,  "  with  a  desire  to  see 
the  cities  and  customs  of  many  nations,  and 
with  a  lively  curiosity  to  visit  high  mountains, 
deep  seas,  hidden  fountains,  celebrated  lakes, 
and  famous  rivers." 

It  was  while  an  inmate  of  the  Colonna 
household  that  Petrarch  began  his  wander- 
ings, —  probably  at  the  cardinal's  expense, 
—  travelling  through  France,  Belgium,  Ger- 
many, and  Switzerland.  At  the  cardinal's 
request  he  sent  detailed  reports  of  his 
impressions  and  observations,  thus  fore- 
shadowing at  an  early  day  the  "  foreign 
correspondent." 


TRAVELS.  6 1 


Petrarch  was  a  keen  observer  and  a  clever 
narrator;  and  if  his  letters  of  travel  could 
have  been  preserved,  they  would  be  an  in- 
valuable help  toward  the  understanding  of 
the  civilization  of  that  day  in  the  countries 
visited  by  him.  Unfortunately  only  two  of 
these  letters  to  Cardinal  Colonna  are  in  ex- 
istence. One  relates  his  visit  to  Paris,  where 
both  days  and  nights  were  given  up  to  sight- 
seeing, then  recounts  his  journey  through 
the  cities  of  Flanders,  and  closes  with  a  le- 
gend of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he  heard 
on  the  spot. 

The  second  letter  refers  to  Cologne,  and 
describes  the  quaint  ceremony  witnessed  by 
him,  of  a  throng  of  damsels  bathing  their 
hands  and  arms  in  the  Rhine,  on  the  eve  of 
St.  John's  day,  to  ward  off  evil  from  the  city. 
He  also  refers  to  the  unfinished  cathedral  of 
Cologne,  to  the  bones  of  the  eleven  thousand 
virgins,  and  the  relics  of  the  three  wise  men. 
He  is  astonished  to  find  in  this  barbarous  land 


62  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

"  so  much  courtesy,  so  much  splendor  in 
the  cities,  so  much  dignity  in  the  men,  so 
much  grace  in  the  women."  The  letter 
closes  with  an  account  of  his  solitary  journey 
on  horseback  through  the  forests  of  the  Ar- 
dennes, dangerous  enough  at  all  times,  but 
rendered  still  more  so  by  the  fact  that  it 
was  a  time  of  war.1 

Tradition  ascribes  to  this  long  and  lonely 
ride  the  composition  of  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-third  sonnet,  in  which  the  poet  pictures 
himself,  unmindful  of  the  dangers  that  sur- 
round him,  lost  in  dreams  of  Laura, —  seeing 
her  form  in  every  tree,  hearing  her  voice  in 
the  songs  of  birds,  in  the  sighing  leaves  and 
the  murmuring  rill. 

Another  incident  of  his  journey  was  the 
finding  at  Liege  of  two  works  of  Cicero 
hitherto  unknown  to  him.  One  of  these  he 
copied  with  his  own  hand,  intrusting  the 
other  to   a   friend.     He    relates   that   it  was 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  i.  3  and  4. 


TRA  VELS.  63 


only  after  a  long  and  tedious  search  through 
the  city  that  they  were  able  to  obtain  ink 
for  the  purpose,  and  when  found  it  was 
as  yellow  as  saffron. 

One  important  result  of  Petrarch's  jour- 
ney was  a  friendship  formed  with  Father 
Dionigi,  an  Italian  monk  who  was  professor 
of  theology  and  philosophy  at  the  University 
of  Paris. 

Dionigi  became  the  trusted  confidant  of 
Petrarch,  if  not  his  confessor ;  and  to  him  was 
laid  bare  the  struggle  between  love  and  duty 
which  was  poisoning  the  poet's  life.  The 
monk  gave  him,  together  with  much  good 
advice,  a  copy  of  the  "  Confessions  of  Saint 
Augustine,"  as  the  best  help  and  counsel  he 
could  offer ;  and  the  little  book  became  from 
that  time  his  constant  companion,  exerting 
the  greatest  influence  upon  his  spiritual 
development. 

The  effect  of  Petrarch's  travels  at  this 
time,  as  well  as  in  later  years,  was  to  make 


64  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

him  more  than  ever  in  love  with  Italy,  and 
more  grateful  for  having  been  born  an  Ital- 
ian. It  was  with  the  keenest  delight  there- 
fore that  he  was  looking  forward  to  the 
first  sight  of  Rome,  the  city  of  his  desires. 
It  had  been  arranged  that  upon  his  return 
to  Avignon  he  should  accompany  his  pa- 
tron, the  Bishop  of  Lombes,  on  a  visit  to 
Rome,  and  Petrarch  was  hastening  home  for 
this  purpose  with  glad  anticipations.  Bitter 
was  his  disappointment  when  on  his  arrival 
at  Lyons  he  learned  that  the  bishop  had 
already  set  out  for  Rome,  where  his  imme- 
diate presence  was  needed  on  account  of 
the  renewed  troubles  between  the  Orsini 
and  Colonna  families. 

The  letter  which  Petrarch  addressed  to  the 
bishop  on  this  occasion  shows  the  degree  of 
intimacy  existing  between  them.  It  is  not 
the  letter  of  a  protfgt  to  a  patron  who  had 
disappointed  him  of  a  promised  favor.  Pe- 
trarch writes    as  friend    to   friend,  reproach- 


TRA  VELS.  65 


ing  Colonna  for  his  broken  promise,  de- 
manding explanations  and  excuses,  mak- 
ing no  effort  to  conceal  his  disappointment, 
surprise,  and  indignation  at  such  treatment. 

Not  until  four  years  later  was  Petrarch 
enabled  to  carry  out  his  long-cherished  plan 
of  a  visit  to  Rome.  In  the  mean  time  his 
hopes  for  the  future  of  the  beloved  city 
were  raised  to  the  highest  pitch  by  the  prom- 
ise of  Pope  John  XXII.  to  remove  the  Papal 
See  to  Bologna,  which  would  be  a  long  step 
on  the  way  toward  Rome.  But  scarcely  had 
he  expressed  his  joy  at  this  prospect  in  a 
melodious  sonnet,  when  the  death  of  the 
Pope  put  an  end  to  his  hopes. 

Petrarch  showed  his  loyalty  to  Rome 
by  addressing  to  the  new  pope,  Benedict 
XII.,  two  eloquent  Latin  epistles,  vehe- 
mently urging  him  to  restore  the  chair  of 
Saint  Peter  to  its  rightful  home,  and  paint- 
ing in  the  darkest  colors  the  desolation 
and  widowhood  of  the  bereaved  city.  Bene- 
5 


66  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

diet  seemed  at  first  inclined  to  carry  out 
the  plans  of  his  predecessor,  but  finding 
the  undertaking  too  great  for  his  weak  will, 
he  abandoned  it  altogether,  and  built  him- 
self a  magnificent  palace  at  Avignon.  The 
cardinals  gladly  followed  his  example ;  splen- 
did palaces  sprang  up  on  every  hand,  and 
the  Papacy  seemed  permanently  transplanted 
to  Avignon,  to  the  wrath  and  distress  of 
Petrarch. 

Benedict,  however,  showed  his  good-will  to 
the  poet,  whose  prayers  he  could  not  grant, 
by  bestowing  upon  him  the  canonicate  of 
Lombes,  the  first  benefice  Petrarch  had  ever 
received.  He  was  thus  for  the. first  time  in 
his  life  in  possession  of  a  definite  income, 
which  rendered  him  independent  of  pat- 
ronage. 

About  the  same  time  the  poet  had  an 
opportunity  of  putting  to  practical  use  the 
legal  knowledge  obtained  in  his  seven  years' 
university  course.     The   Scaligers,   lords   of 


TRA  VELS.  67 


Verona,  had  sent  two  ambassadors  to  Avig- 
non to  lay  before  the  Pope  their  claims  to 
the  rulership  of  Parma,  disputed  by  their 
rivals,  the  Rossi. 

The  Italian  ambassadors  soon  became  ac- 
quainted with  Petrarch,  and  were  so  im- 
pressed by  his  eloquence  that  they  begged 
him  to  undertake  the  defence  of  their  claim 
before  the  Papal  consistory.  Petrarch  won 
the  case,  and  won  at  the  same  time  the 
good-will  and  protection  of  the  Scaligers, 
and  the  lasting  friendship  of  the  two 
ambassadors. 

One  of  these,  Guglielmo  da  Pastrengo, 
was  a  man  of  great  learning,  inspired  like 
Petrarch  with  an  intense  love  for  the  literature 
of  antiquity,  and  the  confidential  relation  in 
which  he  stood  to  the  poet  from  this  time 
forward  is  readily  explained.  The  other  am- 
bassador, Azzo  di  Correggio,  was  a  man  of 
so  opposite  a  character,  a  man  so  devoid 
of  moral  perceptions,  that  it  is  not  so  easy 


68  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

to  understand  how  he  could  have  won  the 
friendship  of  Petrarch  and  preserved  it  till 
death.  Both  of  these  men  were  destined 
to  play  an  important  part  in  the  poet's 
after  life. 


ROME.  69 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ROME. 

"  T^ROM  my  infancy,"  says  Petrarch,  "I 
A  have  burned  with  the  desire  of  seeing 
Rome."  His  enthusiasm  for  Rome  amounted 
to  a  passion.  His  reverence  for  the  Eternal 
City  far  surpassed  that  of  the  Humanist  of  the 
Renaissance,  as  it  surpassed  that  of  the  Cath- 
olic of  the  Middle  Ages. 

To  the  Humanist,  Rome  was  dear  as  the 
home  of  antiquity,  to  the  Catholic  the  city 
was  sacred  as  the  chosen  head  of  the  Holy 
Church.  For  centuries  before  Petrarch,  medi- 
aeval pilgrims  had  reverently  trod  the  soil  of 
Rome,  worshipping  her  sacred  relics.  For 
centuries  after  him,  scholars  inspired  with  the 
love  of  antiquity  have  wandered  through  the 
city  revelling  in  its  classic  associations.     In 


70  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch  these  characters  met.  To  him  alone 
was  it  given  to  be  at  one  and  the  same  time 
a  devout  Catholic  and  the  prophet  of  the 
Renaissance.  Hence  to  him  alone  was  it 
given  to  see  Rome  with  the  reverent  eyes  of 
a  mediaeval  pilgrim,  and  with  the  prophetic 
vision  of  the  first  Humanist.  He  saw  in  her 
the  birthplace  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity,  and 
the  burial  place  of  the  Apostles.  The  Capi- 
tol was  the  seat  of  Jupiter ;  it  was  also  the 
place  where  Augustus,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  sibyl,  was  permitted  to  see  the  infant 
Christ. 

The  soil  of  Rome  was  ennobled  by  the  dust 
of  emperors;  it  was  also  sanctified  by  the 
blood  of  martyrs.  Pagan  ruins  and  Christian 
relics  were  equally  dear  to  Petrarch,  and  were 
constantly  mingled  together  in  his  descrip- 
tions of  Rome.  "  Here,"  he  says,  "  is  the 
palace  of  Evander  and  the  cave  of  Cacus. 
Here  the  wicked  Tullia  drove  in  her  chariot, 
giving  the  street  the  name  of  infamous.    This 


ROME.  yi 


was  the  home  of  Publicola.  Here  Quintus 
guided  the  plough  when  he  was  called  to 
the  dictatorship.  Here  is  the  gulf  into  which 
Curtius  threw  himself.  Here  the  Tarpeian 
rock.  Here  Caesar  triumphed,  and  here  he 
was  slain.  Here  is  the  portico  of  Pompey, 
the  column  of  Trajan,  the  tomb  of  Hadrian. 
Here  the  building  of  Agrippa,  taken  from 
the  mother  of  false  deities  and  given  to  the 
mother  of  the  true  God.  Here  Christ  ap- 
peared to  his  fleeing  vicar,  and  left  his  foot- 
prints for  the  worship  of  mortals.  Here 
Peter  was  crucified,  Paul  beheaded,  and 
Lawrence  burned.  Here  is  the  kerchief  of 
Veronica,  bearing  '  the  imprint  of  the  Sa- 
viour's face.  Here  is  the  cradle  of  Christ, 
the  ring  of  Agnes,  the  fountain  which  sprang 
up  where  the  dying  Paul  shed  his  blood, 
and  the  spot  where,  at  the  birth  of  Christ,  a 
stream  of  pure  oil  flowed  into  the  Tiber. 
Here,  too,  are  the  ruins  of  proud  palaces, 
the  homes  of  the  Fabii,  and  of  the  Caesars 


72  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

and  the  Scipios,  the  seven  hills  with  their 
circle  of  walls,  the  arches  of  triumph  adorned 
with  the  spoils  of  conquered  nations  and 
subject  monarchs." x 

To  these  two  sources  of  inspiration,  so  fan- 
tastically mingled,  Petrarch  added  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Italian  patriot.  To  him,  as  to 
Dante,  Rome  was  still  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, destined  to  become  again  the  mistress 
of  the  world.  As  an  Italian  he  feels  himself 
the  direct  descendant  of  the  ancient  Romans, 
and  his  heart  swells  with  pride  when  he  reads, 
"  Great  is  the  fortune,  great  and  terrible  the 
name  of  the  Roman  people." 

When  Philip  di  Vitry  sent  to  Cardinal 
Guido  of  Bologna  a  letter  of  condolence  on 
his  being  ordered  to  Italy,  Petrarch's  indigna- 
tion knew  no  bounds.  He  poured  reproaches 
and  invectives  on  the  unhappy  Philip,  and 
pitied  his  weakened  intellect.  "  Instead  of 
calling   it  banishment  to  be  sent  to  Italy," 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  vi.  2. 


ROME.  73 


he  said,  "  you  should  rather  call  exiles  those 
who  are  not  permitted  to  live  in  Italy.  Rome 
is  eternal,  mistress  and  queen  of  the  world, 
—  a  city  the  like  of  which  has  never  been 
and  never  will  be,  for  she  is  called  even  by 
her  enemies  the  *  city  of  kings.' " l 

It  is  easy  then  to  understand  with  what  joy 
and  eagerness  Petrarch  embraced  the  first 
opportunity  of  treading  this  sacred  soil,  of 
viewing  with  his  own  eyes  these  inspiring 
ruins,  —  an  opportunity  which  did  not  come 
to  him  until  he  was  more  than  thirty  years 
of  age. 

The  Bishop  of  Lombes,  who  had  disap- 
pointed him  four  years  before,  was  still  in 
Rome ;  and  it  was  through  his  invitation  that 
the  poet  was  finally  enabled,  in  1337,  to  make 
the  journey  to  which  he  had  all  his  life  looked 
forward.  "  It  is  past  belief,"  he  says  in  a  let- 
ter to  his  patron,  written  shortly  before  setting 
out,  "  how  I  long  to  behold  that  city,  which 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  ix.  13. 


74  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

although  desolated  is  still  the  image  of  ancient 
Rome.  Seneca  seems  beside  himself  with  joy 
when  he  writes  to  Lucilius  from  the  villa  of 
Scipio  Africanus,  and  he  deems  it  a  grand 
thing  to  have  seen  the  place  where  so  great  a 
man  lived  in  exile,  and  where  he  left  the  bones 
which  he  refused  to  his  country.  If  he,  a 
Spaniard,  felt  thus,  what  must  I,  an  Italian, 
feel  at  the  thought  of  seeing,  not  merely 
Linturnum  or  the  tomb  of  Scipio,  but  Rome 
itself,  where  he  was  born  and  grew  up,  and 
where  he  triumphed  with  equal  glory  over  his 
enemies  and  his  accusers,  and  where  countless 
other  great  men  have  lived  whose  fame  will 
never  grow  less?  "  l 

Having  travelled  by  sea  from  Marseilles  to 
Civita  Vecchia,  Petrarch  landed  in  Italy  early 
in  January,  1337.  The  war  between  the  Or- 
sini  and  Colonna  families  made  all  roads  to 
Rome  unsafe,  especially  for  a  known  adherent 
of  the  Colonnesi.    The  Orsini  were  on  the  alert 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  ii.  9. 


ROME.  75 


to  avenge  the  murder  of  two  of  their  followers 
by  the  Colonna  faction  some  time  before. 
Petrarch  therefore  found  it  advisable,  instead 
of  proceeding  directly  to  Rome,  to  wait  at 
the  castle  of  Capranica,  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  distant,  until  he  could  announce  his 
arrival  to  the  bishop,  and  receive  instructions. 
His  host  at  Capranica  was  Count  Orso  of 
Anguillara,  who  had  married  Agnes  Colonna, 
the  sister  of  Petrarch's  two  friends  and  pa- 
trons. In  addition  to  his  many  virtues  the 
count  was  well  acquainted  with  the  muses, 
and  was  "  an  elegant  admirer  and  praiser  of 
excellent  geniuses,"  adds  Petrarch,  naively. 

With  so  congenial  a  host,  a  charming  cli- 
mate, beautiful  scenery,  and  the  classic  asso- 
ciations of  the  neighborhood,  Petrarch  would 
have  found  Capranica  delightful  but  for  the 
one  dark  shadow  which  hung  over  the 
land :  — 

"  Peace  alone  is  wanting  to  it,  —  peace,  exiled  by 
I  know  not  what  crime  of  the  people,  what  decree 


?6  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

of  Heaven,  what  fate,  or  what  malign  force  of  the 
stars.  Every  one  is  in  arms.  The  shepherd,  clad 
in  armor,  guards  his  flock  from  robbers  rather  than 
from  wolves.  The  farmer  wears  a  cuirass,  and  uses 
a  lance  to  goad  his  oxen.  The  fowler  covers  his 
nets  with  a  shield,  the  fisherman  hangs  his  bait  from 
a  sword,  and  it  would  make  you  laugh  to  see  them 
draw  water  from  the  well  with  a  rusty  helmet  tied  to 
a  dirty  rope.  Everything  suggests  war.  I  hate  the 
night-cries  of  the  watchman  upon  the  walls,  I  hate 
the  voices  calling  to  arms  on  every  hand.  There 
is  nothing  safe,  peaceable,  or  human  among  the 
people.  Always  in  war  and  enmity  everything  is 
like  the  works  of  devils."  1 

The  Bishop  of  Lombes,  when  he  heard  of 
Petrarch's  arrival  in  Italy,  himself  set  out  for 
Capranica  to  escort  the  poet  to  Rome.  He 
took  with  him  his  brother,  Stephen  Colonna, 
the  younger,  and  a  guard  of  two  hundred 
horsemen.  The  Orsini  were  known  to  have 
five  hundred  horse  in  the  neighborhood, 
but  the  terror  of  the  Colonna  name  was 
sufficient    to    counterbalance   the    difference 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  ii.  12. 


ROME.  77 


in  numbers,  and  the  journey  to  Rome  was 
made  in  safety. 

Petrarch  has  left  little  record  of  his  first 
impressions  of  Rome.  In  a  letter  written  to 
Cardinal  John,  at  Avignon,  soon  after  his 
arrival,  he  says :  — 

"  What  did  you  think  I  would  write  from  Rome, 
—  I  who  have  written  so  much  from  the  mountains  ? 
You  perhaps  expected  me  to  send  you  something 
great  when  I  arrived  here,  —  and  perhaps  I  may  in 
the  future,  for  great  indeed  is  the  subject ;  but  here, 
now,  upon  my  feet,  I  know  not  what  to  say,  so 
great  is  my  wonder  and  amazement.  One  thing 
only  will  I  say,  for  it  has  fallen  out  contrary  to  your 
expectations  :  you  used  to  try  to  dissuade  me  from 
coming,  lest  the  sight  of  these  ruins  not  correspond- 
ing to  their  fame  and  to  the  conception  I  had 
formed  from  books,  my  love  for  Rome  might  cool. 
And  I  too,  though  longing  to  see  it,  not  unwillingly 
put  off  coming,  for  fear  lest  my  eyes  and  the  actual 
presence,  which  is  always  injurious  to  fame,  should 
lessen  the  great  idea  I  had  formed.  But  sight  has 
diminished  nothing;  it  has  marvellously  increased 
everything,  and  Rome  and  her  ruins  are  far  greater 
than  I  had  imagined  them.      I  no  longer  wonder 


78  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

that  this  city  conquered  the  world,  but  that  she  was 
so  long  in  doing  it."  1 

In  his  walks  in  Rome  Petrarch  often  had 
for  a  companion  the  aged  Stephen  Colonna, 
who  for  many  years  had  been  not  only  the 
head  of  the  powerful  Colonna  family,  but  the 
first  citizen  of  Rome.  The  grand  old  Roman 
loved  to  treat  Petrarch  as  a  son,  and  at  one 
time  even  allowed  him  to  mediate  between 
himself  and  his  son  James,  and  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  after  a  bitter  quarrel. 

Another  old  man  who  frequently  accom- 
panied the  poet  was  Stephen's  brother,  a  man 
of  great  cultivation,  who  had  travelled  through 
Egypt,  Persia,  and  Arabia,  and  who  was  able 
to  give  the  ardent  enthusiast  much  valuable  in- 
formation as  they  wandered  in  and  out  among 
the  ruins  of  Rome,  or  rested  on  the  roof  of 
Diocletian's  Baths,  to  enjoy  the  prospect. 

The  beginning  of  the  Renaissance,  or  the 
rebirth  of  antiquity,  dates  from  these  walks  of 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  ii.  14. 


ROME.  79 


Petrarch  in  Rome.  He  was  the  first  to  see 
the  value  of  these  ruined  temples,  monu- 
ments, and  palaces  as  historic  material,  as 
the  foundation  upon  which  a  bygone  civili- 
zation might  be  reconstructed.  Nothing  so 
impressed  him  as  the  shameless  indifference 
of  the  people  of  Rome  to  her  former  great- 
ness. "  Who,"  he  asks,  "  is  so  ignorant  of 
Rome  as  the  Romans?  Nowhere  is  Rome 
less  known  than  in  Rome  itself.  Who  can 
doubt  that  Rome  would  instantly  rise  again 
if  she  but  began  to  know  herself  ?  " l 

So  indifferent  were  the  people  of  Rome  to 
classic  associations  that  the  nobles  them- 
selves were  not  ashamed  to  carry  on  a  dis- 
graceful traffic  in  their  ruined  monuments 
and  palaces,  defacing  them  still  further  to  sell 
marbles  to  the  Neapolitans. 

From  this  time  Petrarch  made  it  one  of  the 
objects  of  his  life  to  prevent  further  despolia- 
tion of  this  kind,  and  to  awaken  in  the  Roman 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  vi.  2. 


80  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

nobility  a  proper  reverence  for  the  ruins  of 
Rome  as  the  witnesses  of  her  glorious  past. 
The  impulse  given  by  him  to  the  preserva- 
tion and  understanding  of  these  ruins  led  to 
the  study  of  the  antiquities  of  Rome  as  a 
science,  which  was  a  necessary  preparation 
for  the  revival  of  the  classical  taste  in  art. 
It  was  not  until  sixty  years  later  that  the 
two  young  Florentine  artists,  Brunelleschi 
and  Donatello,  began  the  exploration  of 
Rome  which  heralded  the  Renaissance  in 
sculpture  and  architecture. 


VAUCLUSE.  8 1 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VAUCLUSE. 

A  FTER  wandering  for  months  amid  the 
^  *  ruins  of  Rome,  breathing  to  the  full 
the  congenial  atmosphere  of  antiquity,  Pe- 
trarch found  life  in  Avignon,  "  that  most 
wearisome  of  cities,"  more  intolerable  than 
ever.  The  bustle  and  confusion  of  its 
crowded  streets,  the  political  intrigues  of  the 
Papal  court,  the  petty  interests  of  society, 
filled  him  with  hatred  and  weariness,  and  he 
sought  refuge  in  solitude. 

To  withdraw  from  the  world,  however,  he 
did  not  think  it  necessary  to  enter  a  monk's 
cell,  as  did  his  brother  Gerardo,  and  to  spend 
the  time  in  prayer  and  fasting.  His  ideal  of 
solitude  was  to  be  alone  with  Nature  and 
with  his  books. 

6 


82  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

For  such  a  retreat  no  more  fitting  spot 
could  be  imagined  than  Vaucluse.  "  Only 
fifteen  miles  from  Avignon,"  says  Petrarch, 
"  and  yet  so  different  from  that  noisy  city, 
that  every  time  I  come  here  from  thence 
I  feel  as  if  I  had  made  a  journey  from 
the  farthest  east  to  the  most  distant  west. 
Except  the  sky  above,  everything  is  different, 
—  the  aspect  of  the  people,  the  waters,  the 
landscape." 

Vaucluse  is,  as  its  name  implies,  an  en- 
closed valley,  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  the  great  gray  cliffs  which  surround 
it,  some  of  them  rising  to  a  height  of  six  or 
eight  hundred  feet.  The  river  Sorgue  with 
its  crystalline  waters  winds  in  and  out  "  like 
transparent  emerald."  At  the  head  of  the 
valley  is  the  mountain  from  which  the  famous 
fountain  of  Vaucluse,  the  source  of  the  Sorgue, 
flows  out  of  the  grotto  so  often  described  by 
Petrarch.  The  "  grotto "  is  a  great  cavern 
sixty  feet  high,  cleft  in  the  rocks  as  if  by  an 


VAUCLUSE.  S3 


earthquake.  Within  it  is  the  basin  which 
forms  the  source  of  the  river,  —  an  immense 
pool  or  lakelet  of  the  clearest,  bluest,  stillest 
water,  whose  depths  have  never  been  sounded. 
The  dark  blue  water  on  account  of  its  depth 
seems  almost  black,  and  its  smooth  surface, 
which  reflects  like  a  mirror  the  rocks  and 
stray  bits  of  green  that  surround  it,  is  abso- 
lutely unruffled.  Great,  however,  is  the  con- 
trast when  it  slips  over  the  brink  and  dashes 
away  in  a  noisy  cataract  over  the  rocks  and 
bowlders  below.  Petrarch's  descriptions  do 
not  prepare  one  for  the  grandeur  of  the  place, 
and  the  feeling  of  loneliness  and  solemnity 
which  it  inspires. 

This  was  the  spot  which  the  poet  selected 
for  a  retreat,  and  which,  with  various  in- 
terruptions, he  made  his  home  for  more  than 
sixteen  years. 

That  a  young  man  of  thirty-three,  gifted, 
popular,  and  successful,  should  voluntarily 
exile    himself  to  a  country  life,  was  a  wide 


84  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

departure  from  the  city-loving  tastes  of  his 
contemporaries.  But  Petrarch's  love  for 
Nature  was  something  exceptional,  and  is 
another  of  the  many  traits  which  serve  to 
emphasize  his  rupture  with  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  his  heralding  of  the  new  era. 

Dante  has,  it  is  true,  given  us  wonderful 
bits  of  description,  but  he  uses  them  as 
similes  or  comparisons,  as  accessories  to  the 
expression  of  some  other  thought  ;  but  with 
Petrarch  — 

"  Beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being." 

A  charming  scene,  a  striking  phenomenon 
of  Nature  is  worthy  of  being  described  for 
its  own  sake,  and  not  merely  as  an  illustration 
of  some  great  truth. 

The  simple,  idyllic  life  led  by  the  poet  in 
this  secluded  valley  is  frequently  described 
in  his  letters :  — 

"  Where,  outside  of  Italy,  can  you  find  a  more 
tranquil   dwelling   than   this?  .  .  .  From   morning 


VAUCLUSE.  %S 


till  evening  you  may  see  me  wandering  alone  over 
the  hills,  through  the  meadows,  the  streams,  and  the 
forests,  cultivating  the  soil,  avoiding  contact  with 
men,  following  the  birds,  resting  in  the  shade,  en- 
joying the  mossy  caves  and  the  green  plains,  de- 
testing the  deceits  of  the  court,  avoiding  the  noise 
of  the  city,  keeping  far  from  the  thresholds  of  the 
proud,  despising  the  cares  of  the  vulgar ;  neither 
too  sad  nor  too  gay,  absorbed  day  and  night  in  the 
sweetest  peace,  with  the  company  of  the  muses,  the 
songs  of  birds,  the  murmur  of  the  proud  and  glo- 
rious waters.  Poor  in  servants,  rich  in  books  ;  now 
hesitating  whether  to  walk  or  stay  at  home,  now 
listening  to  the  music  of  the  fountain,  now  stretched 
at  length  upon  some  grassy  bank,  and  (not  the  least 
cause  of  my  content)  no  one  to  come,  at  least  not 
often,  to  pour  his  sorrows  into  my  ear."  1 

"  This  lovely  region,"  he  says  again,  "  is  as  well 
adapted  as  possible  to  my  studies  and  labors,  so 
long  as  iron  necessity  compels  me  to  live  outside 
of  Italy.  Morning  and  evening  the  hills  throw 
welcome  shadows ;  in  the  valleys  are  sun-warmed 
gaps,  while  far  and  wide  stretches  a  lovely  land- 
scape in  which  the  tracks  of  animals  are  seen 
oftener  than  those  of  men.  Deep  and  undisturbed 
silence  reigns  everywhere,  only  broken  now  and 
1  Ep   Fara.,  vi.  3. 


86  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

then  by  the  murmur  of  the  falling  waters,  the  low- 
ing of  cattle,  and  the  songs  of  birds."  * 

ik  Would  you  know  what  I  do  here  ?  I  live.  Do 
you  expect  me  to  finish  the  verse,  '  and  draw  out 
my  life  in  the  midst  of  sorrow '  ?  No,  no.  On  the 
contrary,  I  am  alive  and  content,  and  care  not  at  all 
for  many  of  the  things  for  which  men  strive.  Here 
is  a  picture  of  my  everyday  life  :  I  rise  from  my 
bed  at  midnight,  and  at  break  of  day  I  go  forth; 
but  in  the  fields  I  study,  think,  read,  and  write  as 
if  in  the  house.  So  far  as  possible  I  drive  sleep  from 
my  eyes,  weakness  from  my  body,  sinful  thoughts 
from  my  soul,  and  laziness  from  my  actions-  Over 
the  steep  mountains,  through  the  flowery  valleys 
and  mossy  caves,  I  wander  all  day  long,  measuring 
both  banks  of  the  Sorgue,  seen  by  no  living  person, 
with  only  my  thoughts  for  company."  '2 

"  My  tongue  is  growing  sluggish.  It  is  often 
silent  from  morning  to  night  because  I  have  no 
one  but  myself  with  whom  to  converse.  I  have 
disciplined  my  throat  and  stomach  until  I  am 
satisfied  with  the  black  bread  of  the  peasants,  and 
neglect  the  white  which  they  bring  me.  ...  My 
delicacies  are  grapes,  figs,  nuts,  and  dates.  I  enjoy 
the  little  fish  in  which  these  streams  abound,  and 
frequently  employ  myself  in  catching  them. 
1  Ep.  Var.,  42.  3  Ep.  Fam.,  xv.  3. 


VAUCLUSE.  87 


"  My  attire  is  entirely  changed.  Formerly  I  had 
a  singular  vanity  in  distinguishing  myself  and  being 
pointed  out  for  my  elegant  and  fashionable  cloth- 
ing. If  you  could  see  me  now,  you  would  take 
me  for  a  shepherd;  not  that  I  lack  clothes,  but 
because  I  no  longer  care  for  that  which  once 
pleased  me.  My  house  might  have  belonged  to 
Cato  or  Fabricius,  and  I  live  here  with  no  compan- 
ion but  my  dog,  and  two  servants.  My  steward 
lives  close  by  within  call,  but  in  a  separate  house 
that  he  may  not  disturb  me.  I  have  made  myself 
two  little  gardens  so  adapted  to  my  tastes  and  en- 
joyment that  I  cannot  describe  them.  I  believe 
there  is  nothing  like  them  in  the  world,  and  I  only 
regret  that  anything  so  beautiful  should  be  found 
outside  of  Italy.  One,  which  I  call  my  transalpine 
Helicon,  is  directly  under  the  source  of  the  Sorgue. 
It  is  surrounded  by  dense  shade,  is  well  fitted  for 
study,  and  is  sacred  to  Apollo.  Back  of  it  are 
steep,  naked  rocks,  inaccessible  except  to  animals 
and  birds.  The  other,  sacred  to  Bacchus,  is  near 
the  house,  and  is  marvellously  situated  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  swift  and  limpid  river.  Near  by,  and 
reached  by  a  little  bridge,  is  a  stone  grotto,  whose 
cool  shadows  protect  me  from  the  summer  heat. 
It  is  a  charming  place  to  study,  and  resembles  per- 
haps the  little  cave  where  Cicero  was  wont  to  de- 


88  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

claim.  Here  I  pass  the  midday  hours.  In  the 
morning  I  wander  over  the  hills,  in  the  evening 
through  the  meadows,  or  in  that  other  more  rocky 
garden  near  the  fountain,  which  Nature  has  made 
more  beautiful  than  could  the  art  of  man.  This 
little  spot  under  the  rocks,  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters,  is  more  suited  than  any  other  to  inspire 
profound  thoughts  by  which  the  most  idle  minds 
may  feel  themselves  lifted  to  lofty  contemplation. 
I  could  pass  my  whole  life  here,  were  it  not  so  far 
from  Italy,  so  near  to  Avignon."1 

"  How  often  has  night  found  me  still  wandering 
in  the  fields  !  How  often  have  I  risen  in  the  silence 
of  a  summer  night  to  offer  up  my  prayers  and  mid- 
night orisons  to  Christ,  and  then  to  steal  forth  alone, 
without  disturbing  the  servants,  to  wander  by  the 
light  of  the  moon  over  the  fields  and  mountains  ! 
How  often  at  the  same  hour  have  I  gone,  without 
any  companion,  with  mingled  feelings  of  terror  and 
delight,  into  that  terrible  cavern  of  the  Sorgue,  where 
even  in  daylight,  and  with  company,  one  cannot 
enter  without  awe  !  Do  you  ask  me  how  I  came  to 
be  so  bold  ?  I  have  never  been  afraid  of  shadows. 
No  wolves  are  ever  seen  in  this  valley,  and  there  is 
no  one  of  whom  I  need  to  be  afraid."  2 

1   Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  8. 
a  Let  Sen.,  x  3. 


VAUCLUSE.  89 


Petrarch  mentions  repeatedly  the  absence 
of  all  sights  and  sounds  save  those  of  Nature. 
The  harmony  of  lutes  and  strings  and  of 
songs  he  must  do  without.  His  eyes  no 
longer  rest  upon  gold  and  gems,  upon  fine 
horses  or  beautiful  women.  The  only  woman's 
face  that  he  looks  upon  is  that  of  the  old 
steward's  wife,  which  resembles  a  desert  of 
Lybia  or  Ethiopia,  dry  and  withered  and 
parched  by  the  sun:  "If  Helen  had  pos- 
sessed such  a  face,  Troy  would  still  be 
standing.  Had  Lucretia  or  Virginia  resem- 
bled her,  Tarquin  would  not  have  been  ex- 
pelled from  the  throne,  nor  Appius  have 
ended  his  days  in  a  dungeon." 

The  poet  does  justice  however  to  the 
beauty  of  her  character :  — 

u  Her  soul  is  as  white  as  her  face  is  black.  There 
is  not  a  woman  in  the  world  more  faithful,  more  un- 
assuming, more  industrious  than  she.  In  summer, 
when  the  grasshopper  can  scarcely  endure  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  she  passes  whole  days  in  the  open  fields. 
At  night  she  returns,  as  fresh  as  a  young  girl,  and 


go  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

without  a  groan  or  a  murmur,  looks  after  the  needs 
of  her  family  and  myself  with  incredible  zeal.  This 
woman  of  iron  throws  a  little  straw  on  the  ground 
for  a  bed.  Her  food  is  coarse  bread,  black  as  iron, 
her  drink  vinegar  and  water,  which  goes  by  the  name 
of  wine;  .  .  .  yet  she  never  appears  weary  or 
afflicted,  never  shows  any  desire  for  a  more  easy 
life,  nor  was  she  ever  heard  to  complain  of  the 
cruelty  of  fate  and  of  mankind."  * 

Her  husband,  the  old  steward,  receives 
equal  praise :  — 

"To  call  him  faithful  would  be  to  do  him  in- 
justice, he  was  fidelity  itself.  He  cultivated  for  me 
a  few  acres  of  indifferent  land.  I  intrusted  to  his 
care  everything  I  had,  especially  my  books ;  and 
of  the  many  volumes  of  all  sizes  that  I  possessed,  I 
never,  after  long  absence,  found  one  missing  or  out 
of  place.  Unlearned,  he  loved  books.  Those 
which  he  knew  to  be  dear  to  me,  he  guarded  with 
jealous  care.  By  long  practice  he  had  learned 
to  distinguish  the  ancient  manuscripts  and  those 
which  I  had  written.  When  I  gave  a  volume  into 
his  custody  he  was  delighted ;  he  pressed  it  to  his 
bosom  with  sighs,  and  repeated  in  a  low  tone  the 
author's  name.     He  seemed  to  feel  as  if  the  mere 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  8. 


VAUCLUSE.  91 


sight  and  touch  of  a  book  imparted  learning  and 
happiness."  1 

Petrarch's  life  in  the  valley  was  for  the 
most  part  a  solitary  one  ;  for  with  the  ignorant 
peasants  of  the  village,  fishermen,  farmers, 
and  vinedressers,  he  could  have  nothing  in 
common.  His  solitude,  however,  was  fre- 
quently broken  by  visits  of  friends  from 
Avignon.  He  also  exchanged  visits  with  the 
Bishop  of  Cavaillon,  —  a  prelate  who  lived 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  Vaucluse,  and 
whose  society  was  so  congenial  to  the  poet 
that  the  two  often  wandered  all  day  long 
in  the  woods  or  among  the  rocks,  unmindful 
of  the  dinner  hour,  or  sat  the  whole  night 
through,  reading  and  discussing  what  they 
read,  without  a  thought  of  sleep,  until  dawn 
surprised  them.  To  this  friend  the  poet 
dedicated  his  work  "  On  a  Solitary  Life," 
written  at  Vaucluse. 

Petrarch  speaks  of  "  spinning  out  his  leis- 

1  Ep.  Fara.,  xvi.  1. 


92  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

ure  "  in  this  retreat,  but  the  years  spent  here 
were  the  most  industrious  of  his  life  as  well  as 
the  most  productive.  Besides  the  book  "  On 
a  Solitary  Life,"  he  wrote  here  a  work  "  On 
the  Leisure  of  a  Monastic  Life,"  the  lives  of 
the  illustrious  men  of  the  past,  the  most  of 
his  Latin  eclogues,  and  hundreds  of  those 
long  Latin  letters  for  which  he  is  famous. 
"  The  aspect  of  the  place,"  he  says,  "  sug- 
gested a  bucolic  poem  and  a  pastoral."  The 
Latin  epic  of  "Africa,"  which  he  then  hoped 
would  make  him  immortal,  was  also  begun  at 
Vaucluse.  "  In  fact,"  he  says  in  the  "  Letter 
to  Posterity,"  "  nearly  every  work  that  I  have 
published,  was  either  finished,  or  begun,  or 
conceived  there." 

Sixteen  hours  a  day  were  given  to  study 
and  writing.  Six  hours  were  allowed  for 
sleep  and  two  for  meals,  although  he  often 
read  at  mealtime.  Exercise  did  not  disturb 
his  labors,  as  he  could  compose  equally  well 
on  horseback  or  while  walking.      Nor  were 


VAUCLUSE.  93 


the  six  hours  allotted  to  sleep  always  care- 
fully kept. 

A  friend  who  visited  him  feared  he  was 
working  too  hard,  and  begged  the  poet  to 
grant  him  a  favor.  Petrarch  unwittingly 
promised,  and  the  friend  asked  for  the  key  of 
his  study.  Having  locked  therein  all  the 
books  and  writing  material  in  the  house,  he 
departed  with  the  key  in  his  pocket,  declaring 
that  Petrarch  should  have  a  ten  day's  vaca- 
tion, during  which  time  he  should  neither  read 
nor  write  a  word. 

The  first  day  Petrarch  declared  to  be  the 
longest  of  his  life.  He  could  scarcely  get 
through  with  it.  On  the  second  day  he  arose 
with  a  headache,  which  grew  constantly  worse, 
and  on  the  third  day  he  was  in  a  raging  fever. 
His  friend  returning  unexpectedly  found  his 
condition  so  serious  that  he  restored  the  key, 
acknowledging  that  his  judgment  had  been  at 
fault  in  prescribing  rest  to  a  man  like  Petrarch. 

In  his  little  garden  at  the  source  of  the 


94  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Sorgue,  sheltered  by  the  overhanging  rocks, 
and  soothed  by  the  murmur  of  the  waters, 
the  poet  could  write  better  than  in  any  other 
spot  in  the  world.  Here  were  written  the 
greater  number  of  those  incomparable  son- 
nets in  which  the  beauties  of  Nature  and  the 
beauties  of  Laura  are  so  exquisitely  mingled. 
He  had  hoped  to  find  in  solitude  a  remedy 
for  his  unhappy  passion.     He  says :  — 

"  I  retired  here,  and  shut  myself  up  as  if  in 
a  fortified  castle,  hoping  to  find  restoration  from 
that  burning  fever  with  which  I  have  battled  for 
so  many  years,  even  from  my  youth.  But,  alas  !  it 
was  a  rash  step.  The  remedy  itself  became  fatal. 
Inflamed  by  the  troubles  which  I  carried  with  me, 
and  deprived  in  that  solitude  of  all  succor,  the  fire 
in  my  heart  increased  grievously,  and  breaking  forth, 
made  the  valleys  and  the  heavens  echo  with  my 
cries  of  misery,  which  in  the  ears  of  many  seemed 
not  devoid  of  sweetness.  Hence  came  those  poems 
in  the  vulgar  tongue  concerning  my  youthful  errors, 
of  which  now  I  am  ashamed,  and  which  I  repent, 
but  in  which  those  who  suffer  with  the  same  malady 
take  delight,  as  you  see."  * 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  viii.  3,  and  note  to  5  in  Fraticelli. 


VAUCLUSE.  95 


Petrarch's  innocent  vanity  is  betrayed  in 
the  complacent  reference  to  the  fact  that 
Vaucluse  is  more  famous  through  his  verses 
than  through  its  own  beauties.  He  might 
therefore  feel  no  repugnance  at  the  thought 
that  the  village  still  makes  his  memory  its 
chief  stock  in  trade,  and  that  the  little  inn 
where  the  modern  tourist  is  entertained  is 
called  the  "  Hotel  de  Laura."  But  the  shade 
of  the  poet,  I  fancy,  must  be  disturbed  by 
the  noisy  millwheels  which  now  utilize  the 
wonderful  waters  of  the  Sorgue;  and  his 
good  taste  would  certainly  be  offended  by 
the  still  worse  desecration  of  the  obsequious 
guide,  who  meets  you  as  you  enter  the 
ravine,  offering  you  a  brush  dipped  in  tar 
wherewith  to  inscribe  your  name  upon  those 
rocks  which  so  long  sheltered  him  from  the 
world. 

The  years  spent  in  the  valley  were  not 
only  the  most  fertile,  they  were  also  the  hap- 
piest of  the  poet's  life,      "  That  part  of  my 


96  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

life  that  I  have  passed  at  Vaucluse,"  he  said 
in  his  old  age,  "  I  have  passed  in  such  tran- 
quillity, in  such  sweetness,  that,  since  I  know 
what  human  life  is,  I  consider  it  as  almost  the 
only  time  in  which  I  have  lived,  and  all  the 
rest  as  a  punishment." 


THE   CORONATION.  97 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE    CORONATION. 


r  I  ^HREE  years  had  passed  in  this  ideal  her- 
mitage   before   any  event   occurred  to 
disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  poet's  life. 

On  the  31st  of  August  in  1340,  as  he  was 
taking  his  customary  morning  ramble  over 
the  hills,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Roman 
Senate,  inviting  him  to  come  to  Rome  to  re- 
ceive at  their  hands  a  public  coronation  as 
poet  laureate.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day,  while  walking  along  the  banks  of  the 
Sorgue,  he  was  met  by  another  messenger, 
who  brought  a  letter  from  the  chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Paris,  proffering  him  the 
same  honor  in  that  city.  This  would  indeed 
seem  a  marvellous  coincidence  were  we  not 
obliged  to  confess  that  for  many  months 
7 


98  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch  had  been  planning,  working,  and 
almost  intriguing  in  both  quarters  to  obtain 
this  honor. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  importance 
which  Petrarch  attached  to  the  laurel,  the 
eagerness  and  intense  longing  with  which  he 
pursued  so  apparently  unimportant  an  object. 
To  him  it  was  not  an  empty  ceremony,  nor 
was  it  merely  the  recognition  by  his  contem- 
poraries of  his  pre-eminence.  His  reverence 
for  antiquity  invested  the  laurel  crown  with  a 
peculiar  charm  in  his  eyes.  He  believed  that 
to  receive  a  public  coronation  at  the  hands  of 
the  Roman  Senate  would  be  to  write  his  name 
on  a  line  with  the  names  of  Virgil,  of  Horace, 
and  of  Statius,  —  all  of  whom,  according  to 
tradition,  had  received  like  honors.  The 
bestowal  of  a  crown  of  olive  or  laurel  upon 
successful  poets  and  orators  was  a  feature  of 
the  Capitoline  games  introduced  by  Domi- 
tian,  in  imitation  of  the  Greek  festivals.  The 
custom  died  with  the  Empire,  but  some  dim 


THE    CORONATION.  99 

memory  of  it  must  have  survived  through  the 
Middle  Ages,  for  already  in  the  early  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  poets  had  begun  to 
dream  of  it.  Even  Dante,  while  viewing  the 
splendors  of  Paradise,  had  longed,  for  such  a 
tribute  from  ungrateful  Florence.  One  or  two 
of  the  smaller  Italian  cities  and  universities 
had  bestowed  the  laurel  upon  some  unimpor- 
tant poet;  but  in  Rome,  upon  the  Capitol, 
the  ceremony  had  not  been  observed  for 
many  centuries. 

The  desire  for  a  revival  of  this  honor  in 
himself  amounted  almost  to  a  mania  with 
Petrarch.  The  passion  for  glory  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  this 
contradictory  nature.  He  loved  solitude,  but 
wished  that  the  world  which  he  despised 
should  applaud  him,  and  that  the  echo  of  that 
applause  should  penetrate  to  his  retreat. 
He  confesses  that  the  desire  for  the  laurel 
cost  him  many  piteous  sighs  and  long  vigils. 
Its  value  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  its 


IOO  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

name  (laurd)  was  identical  with  that  of  his 
loved  one,  which  made  it  an  emblem  of 
love  as  well  as  a  symbol  of  fame.  To  ob- 
tain this  distinction  he  was  willing  to  use 
any  means  in  his  power,  even  resorting  to 
methods  which  we  could  wish  he  had  left 
untried,  —  not  that  his  efforts  were  ever  dis- 
honorable, but  they  were  sometimes  undig- 
nified and  unworthy  of  a  great  mind. 

Next  to  Rome  the  city  most  worthy  to  con- 
fer this  honor  was  Paris,  then  the  centre  of 
learning  in  Western  Europe.  Should  his 
efforts  in  Rome  prove  unavailing,  Petrarch 
would  content  himself  with  the  laurel  of 
Paris.  He  had  there  a  warm  friend  and  an 
advocate  of  his  cause  in  Roberto  de*  Bardi,  a 
Florentine,  who,  as  chancellor  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris,  had  great  influence.  In  Rome 
the  powerful  friendship  and  patronage  of  the 
Colonna  family-did  much  to  further  Petrarch's 
interests.  His  strongest  ally  however  was 
Robert,  King  of  Naples,  whom  he  had  never 


THE   CORONATION.  1 01 

seen,  but  whose  favor  and  friendship  he  had 
won  by  correspondence. 

King  Robert  loved  to  pose  as  the  patron 
of  letters.  His  attention  had  been  called 
to  Petrarch  by  the  poet's  friend  and  con- 
fessor, Father  Dionigi,  who  held  some  office 
at  Naples. 

The  king,  having  composed  an  epitaph 
upon  the  death  of  his  favorite  niece,  sent  it 
to  Petrarch,  asking  his  opinion.  The  poet, 
who  well  understood  the  arts  of  a  courtier, 
was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  such  an 
opening.  With  all  due  allowance  for  the 
hyperbolical  language  in  use  in  those  days, 
one  can  but  wonder  if  so  intelligent  a 
monarch  as  Robert  could  take  seriously  the 
fulsome  praise  which  Petrarch  lavished  upon 
his  epitaph.     He  says :  — 

"The  splendor  of  an  unaccustomed  light  has 
dazzled  my  eyes.  Blessed  the  pen  which  can  write 
such  things  !  I  know  not  which  most  to  admire,  the 
wonderful  conciseness,  the  sublimity  of  the  ideas, 


102  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

or  the  divine  elegance  of  the  style.  I  would  not 
have  believed,  illustrious  King,  that  anything  so 
great  could  be  written  in  so  few  words,  or  that  I 
could  expect  from  human  genius  anything  so  per- 
fect. .  .  .  Your  niece  seems  to  me  worthy  of  envy 
rather  than  compassion,  not  only  because  she  has 
entered  upon  the  delights  of  the  life  blessed,  but  be- 
cause her  memory  will  be  rendered  famous  through 
all  ages  by  your  noble  eulogy.  Thrice  happy  the 
woman  who  in  exchange  for  a  temporal  life,  brief, 
uncertain,  and  sorrowful,  has  obtained  a  double 
eternity,  one  from  the  Celestial  King,  the  other  from 
an  earthly  king,  —  one  from  God,  the  other  from 
Robert.  Her  name  will  live  as  long  as  this  epitaph 
lives,  which  I  believe  will  be  forever."  1 

Fortunately,  the  proof  of  Petrarch's  genu- 
ine esteem  for  King  Robert  does  not  rest 
upon  the  extravagant  phrases  of  this  letter. 
In  many  other  places  in  his  writings  he  has 
given  him  the  warmest  praise  as  the  "  King 
of  Philosophers." 

Dante  has  spoken  disparagingly  of  this 
monarch ;  but  naturally  as  the  leader  of  the 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  iv.   3. 


THE   CORONATION.  103 

Guelf  party  he  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
obnoxious  to  the  great  Ghibelline  poet.  His 
relation  to  Petrarch  shows  that  he  must  have 
had  some  nobility  of  soul  and  appreciation 
of  genius. 

Robert  would  gladly  have  bestowed  the 
poetic  crown  at  Naples,  but  knowing  the 
poet's  preference  for  Rome,  he  used  his  in- 
fluence to  obtain  it  for  him  there.  The  re- 
sult of  these  efforts  was  the  two  invitations 
which  reached  Petrarch  on  the  same  day 
"  from  the  two  most  conspicuous  cities,  the 
one  queen  of  the  world,  the  other  the  most 
learned  city  of  the  day."  u  Elated  with 
pride,"  he  says,  "  at  these  proposals,  as  was 
natural  with  a  young  man,  and  judging  my- 
self worthy  of  the  honor,  inasmuch  as  men 
of  such  eminence  had  thought  so,  yet  weigh- 
ing not  my  own  merit,  but  the  testimony  of 
others,  I  hesitated  for  a  while  as  to  which  of 
these  invitations  to  accept." * 

1  Letter  to  Posterity. 


104  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

In  this  dilemma  the  poet  sent  the  letters 
to  Cardinal  John  Colonna,  at  Avignon,  and  re- 
ceived the  next  day  a  reply  in  harmony  with 
his  own  inclinations,  advising  him  to  prefer 
Rome. 

The  invitations  were  received  in  September, 
but  the  coronation  was  not  to  take  place 
until  the  following  April.  In  February,  Pe- 
trarch embarked  at  Marseilles  for  Naples, 
wishing  first  to  pay  his  respects  to  his  royal 
patron,  and  to  receive  from  him  assurance  of 
his  fitness  for  the  poetic  crown.  "  For  al- 
though, as  is  the  way  with  young  men,  I 
was  a  very  partial  judge  of  my  own  produc- 
tions, still  I  scrupled  to  follow  the  testimony 
given  by  myself  or  of  those  by  whom  I  was 
invited,  —  though  doubtless  they  would  not 
have  invited  me  had  they  not  judged  me 
worthy  of  the  honor  thus  offered. " 1 

The  aged  king  received  him  graciously, 
feeling  flattered  by  his  confidence,  and  con- 
1  Letter  to  Posterity. 


THE   CORONATION.  105 

sented  to  the  formality  of  a  three  days'  public 
examination  in  all  branches  of  learning,  by 
which  the  poet  should  prove  his  right  to 
the  laurel.  "  For  three  whole  days,  I  shook 
off  my  ignorance,"  says  Petrarch,  "  and  on 
the  third  day  he  adjudged  me  worthy  of 
the  laurel  crown.  At  that  time  the  judg- 
ment of  the  king  agreed  with  my  own, 
although  now  I  differ  from  the  estimate 
formed  of  me  by  him,  as  well  as  by  myself 
and  others.  He  was  swayed  more  by  love 
for  me  than  by  regard  for  the  truth."1 

The  king  not  only  sent  letters  to  the 
Roman  Senate  expressing  his  judgment  in 
the  most  flattering  terms,  but  as  an  addi- 
tional mark  of  honor  he  placed  upon  the 
poet's  shoulders  his  own  royal  mantle,  that 
he  might  have  a  suitable  garment  for  the 
ceremony.  He  appointed  Petrarch  court 
chaplain,  and  having  heard  a  portion  of  the 
Latin  poem  of  "  Africa,"  begged  that  it  might 
1  Letter  to  Posterity. 


106  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

be  dedicated  to  him.  He  would  gladly  have 
accompanied  the  poet  to  Rome,  but,  pre- 
vented by  the  infirmities  of  age,  sent  one 
of  his  noblemen  to  take  part  in  the  cere- 
mony as  his  representative. 

Petrarch  arrived  in  Rome  on  the  6th  of 
April,  1 341.  The  nobleman  who  had  been 
appointed  to  represent  King  Robert  had 
separated  from  him  on  the  way,  promising 
to  meet  him  in  Rome,  but  falling  into  the 
hands  of  robbers  was  unable  to  reach  the 
city  in  time  for  the  ceremony. 

The  duty  of  crowning  the  poet  devolved 
upon  Count  Orso  of  Anguillara,  one  of  the 
Senators  of  Rome.  Count  Orso  was  that 
"  elegant  admirer  and  praiser  of  excellent 
geniuses "  who  had  been  Petrarch's  host  at 
Capranica.  It  was  for  him  a  pleasant  duty  to 
place  the  crown  upon  the  head  of  his  friend, 
the  known  protigd  of  the  Colonna  family. 

The  coronation  took  place  on  Easter  Sun- 
day.    Twelve  youths  of  noble  families,  clad 


THE  CORONATION.  107 

in  scarlet,  preceded  the  poet,  reciting  verses 
composed  by  him  in  praise  of  Rome.  He 
was  followed  by  six  nobles  dressed  in  green, 
wearing  garlands  on  their  heads.  Then  came 
the  Senators  with  the  laurel  crown.  "  The 
Romans  streamed  quickly  together,"  says 
Petrarch,  "  and  the  Capitol  resounded  with 
the  confusion  of  glad  voices ;  even  the  walls 
and  the  gray  old  roof  seemed  to  rejoice. 
The  trumpet  sounded,  the  people  crowded 
in  eagerly,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  I  saw 
tears  of  joyful  excitement  on  the  cheeks  of 
my  friends.  I  ascended  the  steps ;  the  trum- 
pets became  silent,  and  the  murmur  of  voices 
ceased  at  once." 

The  poet  stood  up  in  his  royal  robe,  and 
cried,  "  Long  live  Rome  !  long  live  her  Sena- 
tors, and  may  God  preserve  her  freedom !  " 
Then  he  knelt  before  the  Senator,  who  took 
the  crown  from  his  own  head  and  placed  it 
upon  the  poet's  with  the  words,  "I  crown 
virtue  before  all." 


108  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch  delivered  an  oration  in  Latin,  and 
Count  Orso  responded  amid  the  shouts  of 
the  people.  The  aged  Stephen  Colonna  then 
pronounced  a  eulogy  upon  the  poet.  "  My 
heart  beat  fast,"  says  Petrarch,  "  and  blushes 
covered  my  face,  for  such  high  honors  bur- 
dened my  unworthy  breast."  The  theme  of 
Petrarch's  oration  was  a  line  from  Virgil, 
1  Love  draws  me  through  the  steep  deserts 
of  Parnassus," *  and  he  aimed  to  show  that 
the  true  poet  must  be  inspired  by  love  for  his 
art.  There  are  three  grounds,  he  says,  which 
might  have  deterred  him  from  the  pursuit  of 
the  poetic  art:  First,  the  fact  that  poetry  is 
much  more  difficult  than  any  of  the  other 
arts,  since  for  them  industry  and  study  are 
sufficient  while  for  that  a  special  divine  gift  is 
necessary.  Secondly,  although  once,  in  the 
Augustan  age,  poets  were  honored,  the  office 
is  now  not  esteemed.  Thirdly,  the  exercise 
of  the  poetic  art  had  been  especially  difficult 

1  Georgics,  iii.  291. 


THE   CORONATION.  109 

for  him  because  he  had  been  disturbed  by 
material  needs.  The  poet  should  be  free 
from  the  petty  cares  of  life.  Over  against 
these  three  hindrances  to  poetry  were  placed 
the  three  motives  which  had  outweighed 
them,  and  held  him  fast  to  that  art.  These 
were:  First,  his  interest  in  the  honor  of  his 
country.  Second,  his  steadfast  desire  for  his 
own  fame.  Third,  the  wish  to  spur  others 
to  activity.  He  wished  to  honor  his  country 
because  it  was  worthy  of  all  honor,  and  he 
was  glad  to  revive  in  himself  the  custom 
which  had  been  extinct  for  thirteen  centu- 
ries, and  especially  glad  that  it  should  take 
place  in  Rome.  He  believed  that  he  had 
honored  his  country  in  preferring  Rome  to 
Paris.  The  desire  for  fame  was  so  common 
that  he  was  not  ashamed  to  confess  that 
he  possessed  it,  and  he  hoped,  by  his 
efforts  for  ;t,  to  urge  others  in  the  same 
direction. 

Petrarch   then   passed  to  the  poet's  task, 


HO  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

which  was,  to  cover  historical,  physical,  or 
moral  truths  with  a  veil  of  fiction,  so  that 
between  the  poet  and  the  historian  the  same 
difference  would  exist  as  between  the  clear 
sky  and  the  cloud.  The  sunlight  would  be 
the  same,  but  it  would  appear  differently  to 
the  eye  of  the  spectator.  The  harder  it  is  to 
find  the  concealed  truth,  the  sweeter  the 
poem.  Poets  deserve  great  credit  for  pre- 
serving the  names  of  brave  men  from  neglect. 
Many  great  men  have  honored  poets  in  order 
to  obtain  undying  fame ;  and  those  who  have 
despised  singers,  or  have  been  deprived  of 
them,  have  fallen  into  the  dark  night  of 
oblivion. 

Petrarch  concluded  his  speech  by  enumer- 
ating the  qualities  which  make  the  laurel  the 
appropriate  emblem  for  a  poet.  The  fra- 
grance of  the  laurel  is  a  symbol  of  fame.  Its 
leaves  preserve  books  and  other  objects  from 
destruction,  as  do  the  songs  of  poets.  If  one 
sleeps   under   a   laurel-tree,  his   dreams   will 


THE   CORONATION.  Ill 

become  realities.  It  is  evergreen,  and  is  a 
symbol  of  the  immortality  of  fame.  It  is 
sacred  to  Apollo,  the  god  of  poetry.  The 
laurel-tree  cannot  be  struck  by  lightning. 
This  also  is  a  symbol  of  immortality. 

Petrarch  received  from  the  Senate  a  di- 
ploma, bestowing  upon  him  the  citizenship 
of  Rome,  with  the  perpetual  privilege  of 
wearing  a  crown  of  laurel  and  a  poetic  garb, 
and  with  the  authority,  "  in  this  most  holy 
city  or  elsewhere,  to  read,  discuss,  teach,  and 
interpret  the  writings  of  the  ancients,  and  to 
compose  new  books  of  his  own,  to  last, 
please  God,  through  all  ages." 

The  diploma  also  explained  the  motives  of 
the  coronation,  praised  the  lofty  mission  of 
the  poetic  art,  and  lamented  its  decline. 
"  The  very  meaning  of  the  word  poet  is 
almost  unknown,"  it  said,  "  many  believing 
the  office  of  the  poet  is  only  to  invent  false- 
hoods and  lies." 

In  the  evening  a  banquet  in  honor  of  the 


112  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

poet  laureate  was  held  in  the  palace  of 
Stephen  Colonna,  and  thus  ended  the  proud- 
est day  of  Petrarch's  life. 

In  later  years  he  confessed  that  these 
honors  were  received  prematurely,  and  that 
they  brought  him  no  real  advantage.  "  That 
laurel  was  obtained  when  I  was  young  and 
inexperienced,"  he  said  in  one  of  his  last 
letters  to  Boccaccio.  "Its  leaves  have  been 
bitter  to  me;  and  with  more  knowledge  of 
the  world,  I  should  not  have  desired  it.  I 
gathered  from  that  wreath  no  fruit  of  wisdom 
or  eloquence,  but  the  keenest  envy,  which 
robbed  me  of  repose,  and  made  me  pay 
dearly  for  my  fame  and  youthful  ambition."  1 

That  Petrarch  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven, 
when  but  few  of  his  writings  were  published, 
should  have  obtained  the  recognition  which 
Dante  died  without  receiving,  illustrates  the 
injustice  of  the  world.  But  Petrarch's  crown 
was   given    rather   to   the   scholar    than   the 

1  Let.  Sen.,  xvii.  2. 


THE   CORONATION.  113 

poet;  and  as  the  apostle  of  the  new  gospel 
of  culture,  he  deserved  all  the  gratitude 
which  his  countrymen  bestowed  upon  him. 

Much  as  we  may  smile  at  the  factitious 
value  placed  by  him  upon  the  laurel,  much 
as  we  may  regret  the  means  used  to  obtain 
it,  we  must  nevertheless  regard  the  corona- 
tion as  an  important  event,  —  one  in  which  the 
classic,  the  mediaeval,  and  the  modern  world 
met  together.  Those  who  love  to  fix  precise 
dates  for  every  step  in  the  world's  history, 
mark  the  opening  of  the  Renaissance  with 
the  coronation  of  Petrarch  on  the  Capitol 
at  Rome. 


8 


114  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PETRARCH'S   POPULARITY. 

A  FTER  his  coronation  Petrarch  occupied 
"*  a  position  unique  in  the  history  of  the 

world.  No  other  author,  however  great  his 
genius,  ever  attained  during  his  lifetime  so 
exalted  a  position,  or  received  from  his  con- 
temporaries such  universal  homage  and  es- 
teem. The  reign  of  Voltaire  at  Ferney  at 
once  rises  to  the  mind,  and  every  biographer 
of  Petrarch  during  the  last  century  has  made 
the  same  comparison,  thus  illustrating  that 
depravity  of  our  predecessors  so  deplored  by 
De  Quincey,  which  led  them  to  steal  our  best 
thoughts  before  we  came  upon  the  stage. 
But  Voltaire's  kingship  began  only  in  his 
old  age,  after  a  life  of  struggle  and  contention, 
while  Petrarch,  before  he  had  reached  the  age 
of  forty,  was  the  acknowledged  king  of  letters, 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.         115 

with  popes  and  kings,  princes  and  prelates,  vy- 
ing to  do  him  honor.  His  solitude  was  con- 
stantly broken  in  upon  by  visitors  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  It  became  quite  the  fash- 
ion for  strangers  in  Avignon  to  make  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Vaucluse  to  visit  its  celebrated  poet, 
and  magnificent  presents  were  often  sent  in 
advance  to  bespeak  a  welcome.  Princes  soli- 
cited a  visit  from  him  as  an  honor,  and  in  tak- 
ing up  his  abode  with  any  of  them  he  could 
dictate  his  own  terms.  Nor  were  his  admir- 
ers from  the  higher  ranks  alone.  A  blind 
old  scholar  from  Pontremoli  became  so  infat- 
uated with  Petrarch's  writings  that  he  longed 
for  the  sound  of  his  voice.  Hearing  of  his 
presence  in  Naples,  he  made  the  journey 
there  on  foot,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his  son, 
only  to  find  on  his  arrival  that  Petrarch  had  set 
out  for  Rome.  King  Robert,  informed  of  the 
old  man's  disappointment,  summoned  him  to 
his  presence.  "  If  you  wish  to  see  Petrarch 
in  Italy,"  he  said,  "  you  must  hasten  to  Rome, 


Il6  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

else  you  may  have  to  follow  him  to  France." 
"  I  shall  find  him,"  replied  the  blind  man,  "  if 
I  have  to  follow  him  to  India." 

Pleased  at  this  enthusiasm  for  his  protigi 
Robert  gave  him  money  to  travel  to  Rome 
in  a  more  expeditious  manner.  Again  he  ar- 
rived too  late ;  the  object  of  his  search  had 
already  departed  from  the  Holy  City.  Un- 
able to  find  any  trace  of  him,  the  disappointed 
pilgrim  returned  to  Pontremoli ;  but  in  the 
following  winter,  hearing  that  Petrarch  was 
dwelling  in  Parma,  he  set  out  again  to  cross 
the  Apennines.  This  time  he  was  successful, 
and  overcome  with  joy,  he  showered  kisses 
upon  the  brow  and  hand  which  had  produced 
and  penned  so  many  inspiring  thoughts.1 

A  goldsmith  of  Bergamo  filled  every  corner 
of  his  house  with  portraits  and  statues  of  Pe- 
trarch, copied  ever  scrap  of  his  writings  that  he 
could  obtain,  and  begged  the  poet  to  make  him 
happy  for  a  day,  and  famous  through  all  the 

1  Let.  Sen.,  xvi.  7. 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.        WJ 

ages,  by  passing  at  least  one  night  under  his 
roof.  Petrarch  consented,  and  was  received  at 
the  gate  of  the  city  by  the  podesta,  the  captain 
of  the  people,  and  by  the  magistrates,  who  in- 
vited him  to  lodge  in  the  public  palace  or  at 
some  one  of  their  homes.  He  remained  true 
however  to  his  goldsmith,  and  was  honored 
with  a  banquet  which  befitted  a  crowned  king 
rather  than  a  poet  or  a  philosopher.  He  was 
shown  to  a  room  decorated  with  gold,  with  a 
bed  hung  with  royal  purple,  in  which  no  one 
had  ever  slept,  and  in  which  the  host  vowed 
no  other  should  ever  lie. 

Fame  had  also  its  inconveniences  as  well  as 
its  honors.  Not  only  were  his  labors  dis- 
turbed by  visitors,  but  he  was  overwhelmed 
with  letters,  chiefly  from  poets  desiring  his 
opinion  of  their  efforts.  "  There  is  not  a 
country  in  the  world,"  he  says,  "  from  which 
letters,  songs,  and  poems  do  not  rain  down 
upon  me  every  day.  They  come  from 
France,  from  Greece,  from  Sicily,  from  Eng- 


Il8  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

land,  from  all  points  of  the  universe, — a  perfect 
torrent  of  letters  which  threatens  to  submerge 
me.  I  have  no  time  to  breathe.  If  I  tried 
to  reply  to  all  these  I  should  be  the  busiest 
of  mortals.  If  I  criticise  a  little,  they  call  me 
an  envious  censor ;  if  I  praise,  they  accuse  me 
of  flattery ;  and  if  I  do  not  reply  at  all,  of 
pride  and  insolence."  * 

A  certain  cardinal  sent  him  a  poem  of  three 
hundred  and  seventy  lines,  composed  in  an 
hour.  "  Have  mercy  !  "  exclaims  Petrarch. 
"  Three  hundred  and  seventy  lines  in  an 
hour !  What  would  you  do  in  a  day,  in  a 
month,  in  a  year?  Stop,  for  charity,  or  I 
die  !  I  cannot  measure  myself  with  you,  be- 
side whom  Virgil  and  Homer  would  appear 
pygmies."2 

The  worst  feature  of  this  inundation  of 
letters  and  poetry  was  the  claim  made  by  the 
writers  of  having  received  their   inspiration 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  7. 

2  Ep.  Met,  ii.  4. 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.        1 19 

from  Petrarch.  He  began  to  fear,  he  says, 
that  he  should  be  summoned  by  the  magis- 
trates as  a  criminal  and  a  corrupter  of  the 
age.  In  fact,  one  wrathful  father  accused 
him  of  having  ruined  his  son.  "  I  do  not 
know  your  son,"  said  Petrarch,  indignantly. 
"  No  matter,"  replied  the  father,  "  he  knows 
you ;  and  after  I  have  spent  immense  sums  in 
preparing  him  for  the  law,  he  swears  he  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  but  will  follow  in 
your  footsteps.  The  result  is,  he  will  neither 
make  a  lawyer  nor  a  poet." 

"  The  satirist  has  called  the  mania  for 
writing  an  incurable  disease,"  says  Petrarch, 
"  let  me  add  that  it  is  contagious."  A  per 
feet  epidemic  of  writing  broke  out  in  Avig- 
non. Lawyers  and  physicians  thrust  aside 
Justinian  and  Esculapius,  neglected  the  affairs 
of  clients,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  groans  of 
the  sick,  and  thought  of  nothing  but  Virgil 
and  Homer,  the  fount  of  Aonia,  and  the 
shady  recesses  of  Cirra.    Carpenters,  painters, 


120  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

and  farmers  abandoned  the  tools  of  their 
trades  and  talked  of  nothing  but  Apollo  and 
the  muses.  Petrarch  declared  that  he  scarcely 
dared  show  himself  in  public  for  the  swarm 
of  poets  who  surrounded  him,  demanding  his 
judgment  of  their  works. 

The  unexampled  popularity  of  Petrarch 
was  not  a  mere  transitory  fashion,  the  result 
of  his  coronation.  It  continued  unabated 
until  the  day  of  his  death,  nearly  forty  years 
later.  During  all  these  years  his  proud  po- 
sition as  autocrat  of  letters  was  unquestioned. 
Men  of  the  highest  rank  thought  themselves 
honored  by  his  friendship.  He  was  in  corre- 
spondence with  the  King  of  France  and  the 
Emperor  of  Germany.  The  empress  thought 
it  worth  her  while  to  announce  to  him,  with 
her  own  hand,  the  birth  of  a  daughter.  Popes 
showered  favors  upon  him  in  spite  of  his 
open  condemnation  of  the  corruption  of  the 
Papal  court ;  and  he  was  five  times  offered  the 
important  post  of  apostolic  secretary,  which 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.        121 

he  persistently  refused  for  fear  of  fettering 
his  independence.  In  whatever  city  he  vis 
ited,  he  was  received  with  the  honors  paid  to 
a  foreign  prince.  If  he  walked  the  streets  of 
Milan,  the  citizens  uncovered  their  heads.  In 
Venice  he  was  given  the  seat  of  honor  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  doge,  and  the  Senate  of  that 
city  decreed  that  there  was  "  no  philosopher 
and  no  Christian  poet,  either  in  the  present 
or  the  past,  to  be  compared  with  him."  His 
letters  were  so  highly  valued  that  the  couriers 
who  bore  them  were  often  stopped  on  the 
way  until  his  admirers  could  make  copies  of 
the  precious  documents.  He  was  frequently 
employed  on  important  embassies,  and  was  a 
welcome  guest  at  every  court.  To  him  the 
"bread  of  others"  was  not  "salt,"  nor  their 
"  stairways  hard  to  climb,"  because  he  was 
received  by  princes  and  kings  as  an  equal. 
"  The  most  illustrious  sovereigns  of  my  own 
times,"  he  says,  "  loved  and  honored  me,  — 
why,  I  can  hardly  say ;  it  is  for  them,  not  me, 


122  m  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

to  explain.  But  as  I  lived  with  some  of  them 
on  the  same  terms  on  which  they  lived  with 
me,  I  suffered  not  at  all  from  the  eminence  of 
their  rank,  but  rather  derived  from  it  great 
benefit."  l 

The  events  of  Petrarch's  life  during  the  first 
few  years  following  the  coronation  may  be 
briefly  summarized.  At  some  point  on  the 
return  from  Rome  he  met  with  his  friend, 
Azzo  di  Correggio,  who  was  about  to  carry 
out  a  long-cherished  plan  of  making  himself 
master  of  Parma.  At  the  urgent  request  of 
Azzo,  Petrarch  accompanied  him  in  his  tri- 
umphal entry  into  the  city,  and  remained  there 
some  months.  The  residence  in  Parma  proved 
so  agreeable  to  him  that  for  several  years  he 
divided  his  time  between  that  city  and  Vau- 
cluse,  calling  one  his  transalpine,  the  other 
his  cisalpine,  Parnassus. 

On  the  election  of  Clement  VI.,  in  1342,  an 
embassy  was  sent  from  Rome  to  urge  the  new 

1  Letter  to  Posterity. 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.        123 

pope  to  restore  the  Papal  chair  to  its  rightful 
home.  It  is  believed  that  Petrarch  was  a 
member  of  that  embassy,  but  the  fact  cannot 
be  proven.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the 
Romans  should  have  employed  in  this  manner 
the  talents  of  one  whom  they  had  so  highly 
honored,  and  to  whom  they  had  given  the 
rights  of  citizenship.  At  all  events,  Petrarch 
returned  to  Avignon  at  this  time,  and  exerted 
himself  for  the  object  so  near  his  heart.  He 
addressed  to  Clement  a  poetical  epistle,  simi- 
lar to  those  he  had  written  to  Benedict  XII., 
reminding  him  of  the  ancient  greatness  of 
Rome,  and  contrasting  it  with  her  present 
sorrowful  condition,  deprived  of  her  rightful 
protectors. 

Neither  the  eloquence  of  Petrarch  nor  the 
entreaties  of  the  ambassadors  —  one  of  whom, 
the  young  Cola  di  Rienzo,  knew  well  how  to 
plead  for  Rome  —  had  any  effect.  The  Pope 
remained  at  Avignon,  only  granting  to  Rome 
the  privilege  of  celebrating  a  jubilee  in  the 


124  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

middle  of  the  century  as  well  as  at  the  end. 
He  regarded  Petrarch  favorably,  and  bestowed 
upon  him  the  prebendary  of  Pisa  and  the 
canonicate  of  Parma.  He  also  proffered  him 
the  post  of  Papal  secretary,  which  the  poet 
declined  as  before. 

In  1342,  Petrarch's  brother,  Gerardo,  to 
whom  he  was  greatly  attached,  turned  his 
back  upon  the  world  and  entered  a  Carthu- 
sian monastery.  The  brothers  met  but  twice 
in  after  life.  In  the  same  year  occurred  the 
death  of  his  first  patron  and  faithful  friend, 
James  Colonna,  Bishop  of  Lombes,  whose 
loss  Petrarch  never  ceased  to  mourn.  A  year 
later  death  deprived  him  of  another  distin- 
guished patron,  the  aged  King  of  Naples. 

Petrarch  was  selected  by  Clement  VI.  to 
present  the  claims  of  the  Church  to  the  new 
court  at  Naples.  He  was  also  intrusted  by 
the  Colonna  family  with  the  private  commis- 
sion of  obtaining  the  release  of  certain  pris- 
oners related  to  them.     He  was  unsuccessful 


PETRARCH'S  POPULARITY.       12$ 

in  both  missions ;  but  he  has  left  in  his  letters 
a  graphic  and  vivid  picture  of  the  immorality 
and  corruption  of  Naples  under  Robert's 
unworthy  successor,  Joanna.  He  has  de- 
scribed also  the  memorable  tempest  which 
visited  Naples  while  he  was  there,  threaten- 
ing to  destroy  the  city,  and  which  gave  Pe- 
trarch such  a  night  of  horror  as  he  had 
never  passed. 

From  Naples  the  poet  returned  to  Parma, 
where  he  remained  until  1345,  when  the  reign 
of  the  Correggi  came  to  an  untimely  end. 
Their  rule  had  at  first  been  mild  and  gentle ; 
but  Azzo,  having  quarrelled  with  his  brothers 
and  taken  the  power  into  his  own  hands,  had 
grown  so  tyrannical  that  the  people  of  Parma 
revolted.  At  the  same  time  the  city  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Scaligers  from  whom  Azzo  had 
stolen  it,  by  the  Visconti  to  whom  he  had 
promised  it,  and  also  by  the  Marquis  of  Este 
to  whom  he  had  sold  it. 

This  chaotic  state  of  affairs  made  Parma 


126  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

unbearable  to  Petrarch.  With  some  friends 
he  made  his  escape  by  night,  passing  safely 
by  the  enemies'  lines  only  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  robbers  at  last.  Fleeing  from  the 
robbers  they  lost  their  way.  Petrarch's  horse 
fell,  injuring  his  rider;  and  in  the  darkness, 
hearing  on  every  side  the  watch-cries  of  the 
hostile  camps,  they  knew  not  which  way  to 
turn.  They  were  obliged  to  pass  the  night 
where  they  were,  on  the  bare  ground,  without 
even  a  tree  to  shelter  them  from  a  heavy  rain 
which  was  beating  down  upon  them. 

The  next  day  Petrarch  continued  his  jour- 
ney toward  his  transalpine  Helicon,  visiting 
Verona  by  the  way.  Here  he  was  fortunate 
enough  to  discover,  what  was  in  his  eyes  of 
far  greater  importance  than  the  revolutions  of 
Parma  or  the  intrigues  of  Naples,  —  the  man- 
uscript of  Cicero's  "  Familiar  Letters." 


RIENZL  127 


CHAPTER  X. 

RIENZI. 

/TVHE  events  of  1347  stirred  the  heart  of 
*■  Petrarch,  and  roused  to  the  highest 
pitch  that  fervid  patriotism  which  was  so 
essential  a  part  of  his  nature.  In  Cola  di 
Rienzo,  the  ardent  young  enthusiast  who 
was  just  entering  upon  his  brilliant  meteoric 
career,  he  believed  he  could  see  the  reali- 
zation of  his  own  impassioned  dreams  for 
the  restoration  of  Italy. 

Petrarch  lived  in  the  past  rather  than  the 
present.  He  was  more  familiar  with  ancient 
Rome  than  with  the  Rome  of  his  day.  He 
could  therefore  see  nothing  incongruous  in 
the  attempt  to  turn  back  the  wheels  of  his- 
tory fifteen  hundred  years,  ignoring  the 
whole  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  their  in- 
fluence,    He   saw   nothing   impracticable   in 


128  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

the    effort   to    restore   the    Roman    Republic 
and  the  ancient  office  of  tribune. 

Cola  di  Rienzo,  the  son  of  an  innkeeper 
and  a  washerwoman,  brought  up  as  he  him- 
self said,  "  a  peasant  among  peasants,"  was 
more  nearly  in  sympathy  with  Petrarch  in 
his  enthusiasm  for  classic  writers,  his  ten- 
derness for  the  ruins  of  Rome,  and  his  rever- 
ence for  her  ancient  laws  and  customs,  than 
any  other  man  in  Italy.  In  fact,  a  distin- 
guished living  archaeologist  unhesitatingly 
gives  Rienzi  the  credit  of  being  the  real 
founder  of  modern  archaeological  studies.1 
His  youth  was  spent  with  relatives  in  Anagni, 
and  until  the  age  of  twenty  he  had  no  op- 
portunity whatever  to  cultivate  the  intellect- 
ual side  of  his  nature.  Returning  to  Rome 
at  that  age  he  threw  himself  with  headlong 
zeal  into  study.  He  pored  with  equal  eager- 
ness over  the  Latin  poets,  the  Church  Fathers, 

1  Lanciani.  "  Ancient  Rome  in  the  Light  of  Recent 
Discoveries." 


RIENZI.  129 


and  the  Roman  law.  Livy,  Seneca,  and 
Cicero  were  his  constant  companions.  His 
favorite  recreation  was  wandering  amid  the 
ruins  of  Rome,  deciphering  the  inscriptions 
on  the  ancient  monuments.  "  Every  day  he 
studied  the  inscriptions  on  the  marbles  with 
which  Rome  abounded,"  says  his  biographer, 
"and  there  was  no  one  who  could  read  the 
ancient  epitaphs  so  well  as  he.  '  Where  are 
now  these  great  men  ? '  he  was  often  heard 
to  exclaim.  *  Would  that  I  could  have  lived 
when  such  men  did  ! '  "  The  mystic  letters 
S.  P.  Q.  R.  which  he  constantly  met  in  his 
explorations  awakened  visions  of  the  power 
once  enjoyed  by  the  Senate  and  the  Roman 
people;  and  the  descriptions  of  the  valor 
and  glory  of  the  Romans  fired  his  fancy 
until  he  believed  himself  divinely  appointed 
to  restore  the  ancient  grandeur  of  Rome. 
Like  Petrarch,  he  failed  to  measure  the  dis- 
tance between  the  populace  of  his  day  —  "the 
scum  and  sediment  of  countless  races,  bar- 
9 


130  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

barized  by  the  lingering  miseries  of  the 
Middle  Ages"  —  and  the  populus  Romania 
of  the  ancient  Republic.  The  death  of  a 
younger  brother,  heartlessly  and  causelessly 
murdered  by  a  noble,  increased  his  hatred 
of  the  nobility,  and  strengthened  his  deter- 
mination to  free  Rome  from  her  "  horde 
of  petty  tyrants."  He  displayed  in  public 
places  allegorical  pictures  representing  the 
sufferings  and  degradation  of  Rome,  and  in 
glowing  words  explained  them  to  the  crowds 
who  gathered  around,  moving  them  to  in- 
dignation for  their  wrongs,  to  shame  for  their 
long  passivity,  and  arousing  at  last  some 
spark  of  national  feeling. 

The  dreams  of  Rienzi  were  known  to 
Petrarch,  and  his  career  was  watched  by 
him  with  eagerness.  It  is  not  known  when 
the  friendship  between  them  began.  Rienzi 
was  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  Petrarch's 
coronation,  and  we  may  easily  imagine  him 
to  have  been  one  of  the  shouting  multitude 


RIENZI.  131 


at  the  Capitol  on  that  occasion,  since  noth- 
ing would  have  been  more  to  his  taste  than 
the  revival  of  that  ancient  custom.  At  all 
events,  the  two  enthusiasts  met  in  Avignon 
when  Cola  was  sent  with  the  embassy  to 
the  Pope  to  beg  his  return  to  Rome. 

It  was  in  the  sheltered  door  way  of  a 
church  at  Avignon  that  Rienzi  first  poured 
into  Petrarch's  ear  his  dreams  and  plans 
for  the  future  of  Rome,  kindling  with  the 
subject  until  the  poet  seemed  to  be  listen- 
ing to  "  the  voice  of  a  god  rather  than  a 
man."  At  Rienzi's  burning  picture  of  the 
miseries  and  oppressions  of  Rome  the  poet 
was  moved  to  tears,  "  not  weak  tears,"  he 
says,  "  but  manly  tears,  tears  of  indigna- 
tion." From  the  time  of  this  conversation 
Petrarch  thought  of  little  else.  "  Oh,  that  it 
might  be !  "  he  often  sighed.  "  Oh,  that  it 
might  happen  in  my  day!  Would  Heaven 
but  permit  me  to  be  a  sharer  in  this  glori- 
ous undertaking ! " 


132  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

We  may  conceive,  then,  the  joy  with  which 
he  received  the  account  of  the  revolution  of 
1347,  by  which,  without  the  shedding  of  a 
drop  of  blood,  Rienzi  was  made  master  of 
Rome,  with  the  long  obsolete  title  of  tribune. 
Petrarch  at  once  addressed  a  long  letter  of 
congratulation  and  exhortation  to  the  new 
tribune  and  to  the  Roman  people,  "  now 
having  for  the  first  time  the  right  to  be 
called  citizens."  He  hailed  Rienzi  as  a 
new  Romulus,  a  second  Brutus,  another 
Camillus,  having  accomplished  more  than  all 
three.  He  begged  of  him  two  things:  that 
he  would  continue  to  open  each  day  with 
prayer,  and  that  he  would  not  neglect  the 
study  of  history,  but  would  employ  every 
interval  of  rest  in  reading  or  having  read 
to  him  the  history  of  Rome.  He  urged 
the  Romans  to  look  upon  Rienzi  as  their 
liberator,  to  uphold  him  with  any  sacrifice 
in  their  power,  to  be  ready  to  die  as  free 
men    rather   than    suffer    themselves    to    be 


RIENZI.  133 

again  enslaved  after  having  once  tasted  lib- 
erty. He  promised  an  ode  worthy  of  the 
occasion,  but  it  is  not  certain  that  the  prom- 
ise was  ever  fulfilled.  The  question  as  to 
whether  Rienzi  was  the  hero  of  the  canzone 
so  long  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  him, 
has  given  rise  to  as  many  volumes  of  dis- 
cussion as  that  of  the  identity  of  Dante's 
Veltro.  It  is  now  pretty  definitely  settled 
that  he  is  not  the  dedicatee. 

The  first  steps  of  Rienzi  justified  Pe- 
trarch's enthusiasm.  The  constitution,  which 
he  caused  the  people  to  adopt  by  acclama- 
tion, contained  many  wise  provisions  for 
the  welfare  of  Rome.  Every  murder  was 
to  be  punished  with  death,  and  trials  must 
be  completed  within  fifteen  days  at  most. 
False  accusers  received  heavy  penalties.  A 
guard  of  one  hundred  foot  soldiers  and 
twenty-five  horse  was  to  be  placed  in  every 
part  of  the  city.  The  families  of  all  who 
died    fighting    for    their    country    were    to 


134  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

receive  a  pension.  The  roads  around  Rome 
were  to  be  guarded,  and  the  coasts  made 
safe  for  merchants.  Widows  and  orphans 
were  to  be  protected  by  the  State,  as  were 
also  cloisters  and  sacred  places.  The  bar- 
ons were  forbidden  to  fortify  their  cas- 
tles, or  to  give  asylum  to  bandits  and 
malefactors.  The  gates  and  bridges  of  the 
city  were  to  be  taken  from  the  barons 
and  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  officer 
elected  by  the  people.  When  the  Ro- 
mans eagerly  proffered  him  the  supreme 
power  as  reformer  of  the  Republic,  Rienzi 
prudently  proposed  to  take  a  colleague,  and 
chose  for  that  office  the  Papal  vicar,  thus 
securing  the  sanction  of  the  Church.1  The 
nobles,  so  long  occupied  with  their  own 
quarrels,  were  overcome  with  surprise  at 
this  uprising  of  the  people,  and  through 
lack  of  unity  were  unable  to  make  any  re- 
sistance. The  head  of  the  Colonna  family 
1  Gregorovius,     "  Rom  im  Mittelalter,"  vol.  vi.  c.  5. 


RIENZL  135 


might  rage  and  threaten  to  throw  the  trib- 
une from  the  window  of  the  Capitol,  but 
the  Colonnas  themselves,  with  the  other  pow- 
erful nobles,  were  compelled  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Republic.  The 
strictest  justice  was  observed  without  re- 
spect to  rank.  An  ex-senator  was  beheaded 
for  crime  like  any  ordinary  criminal.  Brig- 
andage was  destroyed,  and  a  tranquillity  un- 
known before  reigned  in  Rome  and  the 
Campagna.  The  couriers  of  the  tribune 
reported  that  wherever  they  carried  the 
white  staff,  —  the  emblem  of  their  office, 
—  thousands  knelt  to  kiss  it  in  gratitude 
for  the  new  feeling  of  peace  and  secu- 
rity. Cola  also  persuaded  his  fellow-citizens 
to  become  reconciled  with  one  another,  to 
lay  aside  all  private  enmities  and  work  for 
the  public  good.  Some  idea  of  the  dis- 
tracted condition  of  Rome  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  fact  that  eighteen  hundred 
feuds  were  buried  at  his  entreaty. 


136  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

But  the  plans  of  Rienzi  were  not  limited 
to  Rome.  Letters  were  sent  to  all  the  cities 
of  Italy,  announcing  the  freedom  of  Rome, 
and  prophesying  the  freedom  of  Italy.  He 
urged  other  cities  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
their  tyrants,  and  he  invited  all  the  cities 
and  communes  of  Italy  to  send  representa- 
tives to  a  general  parliament  to  be  held  in 
Rome,  to  consider  the  freedom  and  pacifi- 
cation of  the  whole  nation.  The  dream  of 
Rienzi  and  of  Petrarch  was  the  same  as  the 
dream  of  Mazzini  five  hundred  years  later, — 
a  dream  of  a  united  Italy,  a  confederation 
of  Italian  States,  with  Rome  as  the  head, 
resuming  her  former  importance  in  the 
world. 

Petrarch's  open  espousal  of  the  cause  of 
Rienzi  cost  him  the  friendship  of  his  ear- 
liest and  most  influential  patrons,  the  Co- 
lonnas,  and  he  has  often  been  accused  of 
ingratitude  for  his  treatment  of  this  family; 
but   he  was   certainly   right    in   refusing    to 


RIENZI.  137 


prefer  the  claims  of  private  friendship  to 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  interest  of  his 
country.  "There  is  no  princely  family  in 
the  world,"  he  says  in  his  defence,  "  so  dear 
to  me  as  the  Colonna,  yet  dearer  still  is  the 
Republic,  dearer  is  Rome,  dearer  Italy." 
He  has  seen  the  evils  which  the  nobles 
have  brought  upon  Rome,  and  he  denounces 
them  as  traitors,  enemies  to  the  public  good. 
He  inveighs  against  them  as  barbarians,  not 
natives,  who  despise  the  beautiful  title  of 
Roman  citizen  and  wish  to  be  called  princes. 
He  fears  lest  the  Romans,  accustomed  to 
submission,  should  fall  again  under  the  yoke 
of  their  tyrants.  Hence  he  advises  the  exter- 
mination of  the  nobility.  "  Severity  toward 
them  is  a  duty,  all  mercy  is  inhuman." 

Petrarch  preserved  the  same  opinion  even 
after  the  fall  of  Rienzi.  When,  in  135 1, 
the  four  cardinals  appointed  by  the  Pope  to 
reform  the  constitution,  consulted  with  him 
as  to  whether  they  should  allow  the  people 


138  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

a  share  in  the  government,  he  was  indignant 
at  the  question.  "  Not  a  part,  but  the 
whole,"  he  said,  "  should  be  given  to  the 
people;  and  the  nobility  should  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  Senate.  Those  who  are 
the  enemies  of  liberty  should  be  forever  re- 
moved from  public  office  in  a  free  city." 

"  What  an  incredible  question !  "  he  adds. 
"  Whether  the  Roman  people,  once  the 
rulers  of  all  nations,  should  be  restored  to 
liberty  to  this  extent,  that  upon  the  Capitol 
where  they  have  seen  so  many  triumphs, 
they  should  be  allowed  to  sit,  and  to  share 
in  some  manner  with  their  oppressors  in 
the  government  of  the  Republic.  Are  we 
then  fallen  so  low?  Have  we  come  to  such 
an  extreme  of  misery  as  to  doubt  whether 
among  so  many  foreigners  and  Tarquins  a 
Roman  citizen  may  enter  into  the  Senate? 
Why  should  the  nobles  rule?  Because  of 
their  nobility?  There  is  much  discussion 
as    to  what    constitutes    nobility;  and    if  we 


RIENZI.  139 


measure  theirs  by  virtue,  they  would  have 
little  to  boast  of.  Should  they  rule  be- 
cause of  their  wealth,  which  they  have  stolen 
from  the  people,  and  used  to  the  injury  of 
the  city?  There  should  be  in  Rome  no 
title  higher  than  that  of  Roman  citizen,  and 
this  they  disdain.  They  are  offended  if  we 
call  them  citizens,  or  men,  or  anything  but 
lords  and  princes.  By  the  laws  of  Rome 
the  Senate  should  be  composed  of  Roman 
citizens  alone."  1 

Petrarch  continued  to  send  letters  of  en- 
couragement, counsel,  and  admonition  to 
Rienzi.  At  one  time,  indeed,  he  finds  it  ne- 
cessary to  apologize  for  the  frequency  and 
assiduity  of  his  letters.  "I  am  not  like  an 
outsider,"  he  says,  "who  awaits  the  issue  at 
a  distance,  but  I  am  one  who  has  gone  into 
the  midst  of  the  field,  to  come  forth  either 
conqueror  or  conquered.  I  cannot  express 
my  agitation  and  suspense.     The  only  com- 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xi.  16. 


140  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

fort  I  have  is  my  pen ;  and  with  this  in  my 
hand  I  seem  to  be  with  you,  and  care  only 
to  pour  into  your  ear  the  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions that  weigh  on  my  heart.  I  am  always 
anxious  about  you.  Day  and  night  I  think  of 
you,  and,  that  I  may  not  forget  my  thoughts, 
I  write  them  down.  Those  of  the  day  I  write 
in  my  room  in  the  evening,  and  those  of  the 
night,  when  I  first  rise  in  the  morning.  If 
I  yielded  to  my  desires,  not  a  day  would  pass 
without  my  writing  you  a  letter."  x 

"It  often  happens  to  me"  he  says  in  an- 
other part  of  the  same  letter,  "  to  be  pres- 
ent when  others  speak  of  you  with  arrogant 
contempt,  and  I  never  fail  to  defend  you 
manfully.  I  warmly  maintain  the  justice  of 
your  tribunate  and  the  sincerity  of  your 
actions,  against  all  calumniators,  regardless 
of  their  rank.  In  this  way  I  have  lost  the 
friendship  of  many  with  whom  I  had  long 
been  intimate." 

1  Ep.  Var.,  40. 


RIENZI.  141 


It  is  easy  to  see  that  if  Petrarch  persisted 
in  his  hot-headed  defence  of  Rienzi,  his  res- 
idence near  the  Papal  court  would  soon 
become  unpleasant  to  him ;  for  the  Pope  had 
in  a  very  short  time  withdrawn  his  favor 
from  the  tribune  and  had  lent  his  influence 
to  the  barons.  The  envoy  of  the  Republic 
was  insulted  at  Avignon;  and  Petrarch,  to 
his  unspeakable  indignation,  heard  discus- 
sions between  the  nobles  as  to  whether  the 
concord  and  tranquillity  of  Italy  were  really 
advantageous  to  the  public  good,  —  that  is, 
to  their  own  interests.  He  therefore  resolved 
to  leave  Avignon  and  Vaucluse  and  to  return 
to  Italy,  that  he  might  aid  the  tribune  with 
his  counsels,  and  that  he  might  see  with 
his  own  eyes  the  resurrected  Rome. 

Scarcely  had  Petrarch  set  out  on  his  jour- 
ney when  he  received  the  most  unfavorable 
reports  from  Rome.  The  sudden  elevation 
to  power  seemed  for  a  time  to  turn  the  head 
of  Rienzi,  and  to  bring  out  the  weak  points 


142  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

of  his  character.  His  appearance  in  public 
was  marked  by  extravagant  splendor.  Pride 
and  vanity  led  him,  on  assuming  the  spurs 
of  knighthood,  to  bathe  in  the  porphyry  vase 
in  which  Constantine  had  received  baptism, 
to  place  upon  his  head  the  seven  spiritual 
crowns,  to  remain  seated  while  the  nobles 
stood  bareheaded  in  his  presence,  and  to 
coin  money  in  his  own  name.  His  exalted 
opinion  of  his  own  mission,  and  his  faith  in 
Rome's  divine  right  to  the  dominion  of  the 
world,  led  him  to  summon  to  his  presence 
the  two  claimants  to  the  imperial  throne  that 
he  might  decide  between  them ;  to  summon 
the  Papal  court  to  return  to  Rome;  and  to 
proclaim  that  the  right  of  electing  either 
pope  or  emperor  belonged  to  the  Roman 
people.  Naturally  these  indiscretions  made 
him  many  enemies. 

Petrarch  was  startled  and  alarmed  by  the 
reports  of  the  tribune's  lack  of  moderation 
and  judgment.     Interrupting  his  journey,  he 


RIENZI.  143 


turned  aside  to  Genoa,  from  whence  he  sent 
to  Rienzi  a  stormy  letter  of  reproach  and 
appeal.  He  begged  him  not  to  destroy  his 
own  work,  not  to  tarnish  his  own  fame,  not  to 
make  of  himself  a  spectacle  at  which  his 
friends  must  weep  and  his  enemies  laugh, 
and  not  to  force  his  friend  to  conclude  in 
satire  the  lyric  begun  in  his  praise.  He 
reminds  the  tribune  how  much  easier  it 
is  to  descend  than  to  climb.  "  I  was 
hastening  toward  you,"  he  says,  "with  all 
my  heart,  but  I  have  changed  my  plan.  I 
will  not  see  you  other  than  you  were.  Fare- 
well to  Rome,  farewell  to  you  if  what  I  have 
heard  be  true.  I  would  go  to  the  Indies 
rather  than  come  to  you.  How  poorly  does 
the  end  correspond  to  the  beginning!" 

But  one  ray  of  hope  is  left,  and  he  seizes 
eagerly  upon  it.  These  reports  may  not  be 
true.  He  has  received  them  indeed  from  a 
friend  worthy  of  confidence,  but  that  friend 
may  have  been  moved  by  envy.     "  God  grant 


144  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

that  such  be  the  case.  I  would  far  rather  one 
friend  should  deceive  me  than  that  the  other 
should  be  found  guilty  of  such  wicked  deeds. 
Falsehood  may  be  pardoned,  the  crime  of 
treason  never.  It  is  a  far  less  evil  for  me  to 
be  saddened  a  few  days  by  deceit  than  for  all 
my  future  life  to  be  made  miserable  by  your 
abandonment  of  your  country."  Though  Pe- 
trarch refuses  to  believe  the  report,  yet  he 
returns  again  to  admonition,  warning  the  trib- 
une to  consider  well  every  step.  "  Do  not 
forget  who  you  are,  who  you  were,  whence 
and  where  you  have  come,,  and  how  far  you 
may  exalt  yourself  without  detriment  to  lib- 
erty. Do  not  forget  with  what  types  you 
have  clothed  yourself,  what  names  you  have 
assumed,  what  hopes  you  have  aroused, 
what  public  professions  you  have  made ; 
and  remember,"  he  concludes,  "  that  you 
are  not  the  master,  but  the  servant  of  the 
Republic."  1 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  vii.  7. 


RIENZI.  1 45 


Counsels  and  warnings  were  of  no  avail  to 

stay  the  downfall   of  Rienzi.      The   tribune 

was  disheartened.     After  gaining  a  decisive 

victory  over  the  barons,  leaving  the  flower  of 

the  Roman  nobility  slain  and  the  power  of 

the  aristocracy  forever  weakened,  he  wasted 

his  time  in  triumphal  processions,  and  failed 

to  follow  up  his  advantage.     A  month  later 

he  became  panic-stricken  on  account  of  an 

unimportant  tumult  in  the  city,  and  at  once 

concluded  that  all  was  lost.     He  laid   aside 

the  insignia  of  his  office,  bade  farewell  to  his 

friends,  and  descended  the  steps  of  the  Capitol, 

weeping.     Many  of  the  citizens  wept  also,  but 

no  man  held  him  back.    The  populace,  whom 

he  called  Roman  citizens,  the  heirs  of  untold 

greatness,  were  not  the  stuff  of  which  heroes 

are  made.     They  were  willing  to   be   freed 

from  the  rapacity  and  tyranny  of  the  nobles, 

willing  that  their  streets  and  homes  should  be 

made  safe  for  their  wives  and  daughters,  but 

they  were    unwilling   to  risk   much  in  their 
10 


146  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

own  defence.  They  were  ready  to  be  feasted 
and  flattered,  but  not  at  their  own  expense. 
Rienzi  took  refuge  in  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
gelo  and  from  thence  escaped  to  Naples, 
leaving  the  city  again  a  prey  to  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  barons,  who  at  once  returned, 
more  insolent  than  before.  Their  cruelty 
was  heightened  by  the  thirst  for  revenge 
on  the  plebeians  who  dared  to  humiliate 
them. 

So  absorbed  was  Petrarch  in  watching  the 
course  of  Rienzi  and  the  gradual  dissolution 
of  his  splendid  dream  of  the  unity  of  Italy, 
that  he  scarcely  realized  the  misfortunes 
which  had  overtaken  the  Colonna  family. 
On  the  day  of  his  departure  from  France 
the  nobles  had  made  their  decided  stand 
against  Rienzi,  had  been  defeated  with  great 
loss,  and  among  the  slain  were  four  of  the 
most  brilliant  members  of  that  family.  Two 
of  them  had  been  personal  friends  of  Pe- 
trarch's.    The  letter  of  condolence  which  he 


RIENZL  147 


sent  to  the  cardinal,  after  many  months'  delay 
and  at  the  instance  of  friends  who  blamed  his 
neglect,  reads  like  a  rhetorical  exercise  upon 
death  rather  than  an  outburst  of  grief.  He 
could  not  mourn  sincerely  for  men  who  died 
fighting  against  the  Republic,  and  who  had 
aided  so  much  in  destroying  his  dearest 
hopes.  He  had  so  identified  himself  with 
Italy  that  all  other  passions  were  for  a  time 
buried.  "  Rome  undone,  what  hope  is  left 
for  Italy?"  he  said.  "And  Italy  debased, 
what  will  my  life  be?"  His  grief  for  the 
downfall  of  the  tribune  was  genuine.  He 
did  not  withdraw  his  friendship  from  Rienzi 
after  the  latter's  loss  of  power.  Five  years 
later,  when  his  friend  was  a  prisoner  in  Avig- 
non, sent  by  the  Emperor  to  the  Pope,  Pe- 
trarch pleaded  his  cause  eloquently  in  a  letter 
to  the  Roman  people,  urging  them  for  the 
sake  of  their  own  honor  to  demand  the  liber- 
ation of  the  prisoner  and  a  fair  trial.1 
1  Ep.  sine  Tit.,  iv. 


148  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Better  than  any  other  could  Petrarch 
understand  the  weakness  as  well  as  the 
greatness  of  Rienzi ;  for  if  there  was  in  the 
world  a  more  contradictory  nature  than 
Petrarch's,  it  was  that  of  the  tribune  of 
Rome.  There  was  in  both  the  same  mix- 
ture of  mediaeval  and  modern,  of  the  Cath- 
olic of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  pagan  of 
the  Renaissance. 

Petrarch  blames  Rienzi  for  only  two  mis- 
takes :  first  that  he  did  not,  when  he  had 
the  chiefs  of  the  Roman  nobility  in  his 
power,  destroy  them  at  one  stroke  instead  of 
allowing  them  to  go  forth  free  to  renew  their 
conspiracies.  Second,  that  he  fled  from  the 
Capitol,  "  when  nowhere  in  the  world  could 
he  have  died  more  gloriously."  "I  am  not 
ashamed,"  he  said,  "  of  the  things  that  I 
have  written  concerning  him,  for  he  was 
worthy  the  praise  and  admiration  of  the 
whole  world.  I  had  placed  in  this  man  my 
last  hope  for  the  freedom  of  Italy;   and  hav- 


RIENZI.  149 


ing  long  known  and  loved  him,  when  he  put 
his  hand  to  this  great  work  he  seemed  to 
me  worthy  of  veneration  and  worship.  And 
whatever  the  end  of  the  undertaking,  I  still 
maintain  that  the  beginning  of  it  was 
magnificent."  * 

The  poet  regarded  the  imprisonment  of 
Rienzi  as  an  insult  to  Rome.  "  And  of  what 
is  he  accused  ?  Not  of  that  for  which  all  good 
men  lament  It  is  not  the  end  that  they 
reproach  him  with,  but  the  beginning.  They 
do  not  blame  him  for  the  favor  shown  to 
the  wicked,  for  liberty  betrayed,  for  his 
flight  from  the  Capitol.  The  crime  which 
they  ascribe  to  him  is  one  which  should 
bring  him  not  infamy,  but  eternal  glory, — 
the  crime  of  having  dared  to  think  of  mak- 
ing Rome  free  and  great,  and  of  believing 
that  the  Roman  empire  belonged  to  Rome. 
Truly  a  crime  worthy  of  death  and  disgrace, 
that  a  Roman  citizen  could  not  quietly  suffer 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  6. 


150  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

his  country,  once  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
to  be  enslaved  by  vile  men !  " l 

Of  Rienzi's  second  brief  and  disastrous 
reign  as  Roman  Senator  under  Papal  sanc- 
tion, Petrarch  makes  no  mention,  nor  of  his 
miserable  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Roman 
people,  on  the  steps  of  that  Capitol  which 
the  poet  thought  so  glorious  a  place  to 
die. 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  6. 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  151 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SORROWS   AND   LOSSES. 

TI  7HEN  Petrarch  departed  from  Avignon, 
in  1347,  he  believed  himself  to  be 
bidding  a  final  farewell  to  France.  His  eyes 
were  turned  toward  Rome,  whose  glorious 
future  he  hoped  to  share.  The  sudden 
downfall  of  Rienzi  changed  his  plans,  and 
he  returned  to  Parma.  The  troubled  con- 
dition of  affairs  which  had  driven  him  from 
that  city  a  few  years  before,  no  longer  ex- 
isted. The  city  had  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Luchino  Visconti,  of  Milan,  who  gov- 
erned it  quietly  and  peaceably. 

With  the  thought  of  making  his  cisalpine 
Parnassus  a  permanent  home,  Petrarch  built 
himself  a  house  in  Parma.  His  letters  show 
that  he  loved  to  busy  himself  with  the  small- 


152  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

est  details  of  building  and  of  laying  out  his 
little  garden.  But  permanence  was  foreign 
to  his  nature.  He  confesses  that  only  in 
continual  change  of  place  can  he  find  re- 
lief from  the  ennui  which  is  inseparable  from 
a  sedentary  life.  Accordingly,  we  find  him 
at  Verona,  Padua,  Mantua,  Ferrara,  Milan, 
and  elsewhere,  in  each  place  the  honored 
guest  of  princes,  who  vied  with  one  another 
in  their  efforts  to  retain  him  at  their  courts. 
But  the  honors  paid  him  were  more  than 
balanced  by  the  sorrows  which  befell  him 
in  these  years. 

In  1348,  the  terrible  pestilence  which  swept 
over  Europe  carried  away  among  its  count- 
less victims  the  Laura  who  had  so  long  been 
the  object  of  Petrarch's  worship  and  the 
inspiration  of  his  song.  In  the  manuscript 
copy  of  Virgil  previously  referred  to,  is  the 
poet's  brief  record  of  her  death :  — 

"  Laura,  illustrious  for  her  own  virtues  and  long 
celebrated  by  my  verses,  first  appeared  to  my  eyes 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  1 53 

in  my  early  youth,  on  the  sixth  day  of  April  in  1327, 
in  the  early  morning,  in  the  church  of  Santa  Clara 
at  Avignon.  And  in  the  same  city  in  the  same 
month  of  April,  on  the  same  sixth  day  of  the  month, 
and  at  the  same  hour,  in  the  year  1348,  the  light 
of  my  life  was  taken  from  me,  while  I,  alas,  was 
in  Verona,  ignorant  of  my  fate.  The  sad  news 
reached  me  on  the  ninth  of  May,  in  a  letter  from 
my  Louis.  Her  chaste  and  beautiful  body  was  de- 
posited on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  in  the 
church  of  the  Cordeliers.  Her  spirit,  as  Seneca 
said  of  Scipio,  has  returned,  I  believe,  to  the  Heaven 
whence  it  came.  To  preserve  the  memory  of  my 
loss,  it  is  with  bitter  pleasure  that  I  record  it  here, 
in  a  place  which  comes  often  under  my  eyes,  that 
nothing  in  this  life  may  hereafter  give  me  pleasure, 
and  that,  the  chief  tie  being  broken,  I  may  by  frequent 
reading  of  these  words  and  thinking  of  this  transi- 
tory life,  be  ready  to  leave  this  earthly  Babylon, 
which  by  the  help  of  God  will  be  easy,  with  the 
constant  and  manly  recollection  of  the  fruitless  de- 
sires and  vain  hopes  and  sad  vicissitudes  which 
have  so  long  agitated  me." 

Not  only  Laura,  but  many  other  old   and 
dear    friends    were     carried    away    by    the 


154  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

plague,  —  among  them  Cardinal  Colonna, 
from  whom  Petrarch  had  recently  been  es- 
tranged, but  whose  death  could  but  cause 
him  keen  sorrow,  notwithstanding  their  dif- 
ferences. The  vow  that  nothing  in  this  life 
should  hereafter  give  him  pleasure  was  no 
doubt  often  broken,  but  it  is  true  that  from 
this  time  Petrarch  was  a  changed  man.  His 
letters  and  his  writings  show  a  graver  and 
sadder  character.  It  could  scarcely  be  other- 
wise. The  terrible  ravages  of  the  pestilence, 
the  suffering  and  desolation  witnessed  on 
every  hand,  the  loss  of  friend  after  friend, 
the  constant  danger  in  which  each  one  stood 
of  losing  his  own  life,  must  have  sobered 
and  saddened  any  man. 

In  his  loneliness  Petrarch  conceived  the 
thought  of  gathering  the  few  friends  that 
were  left  him  into  a  sort  of  humanistic 
brotherhood.  He  wrote  to  several  of  them, 
inviting  them  to  share  his  home  at  Parma,  or 
to  choose  some  other  spot  where  all  might 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  155 

live  together.  Two  of  his  friends,  on  their 
way  to  visit  him  to  confer  upon  some  such 
plan,  fell  into  the  hands  of  robbers,  and  one 
of  them  was  slain.  The  plan  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  poet's  life  became  more  wan- 
dering and  restless  than  ever. 

The  ruler  of  Padua,  James  Carrara  — 
"whose  equal  did  not  exist  among  the  no- 
bles of  his  day,"  says  Petrarch  —  had  for 
years  begged  him  for  a  visit.  His  messen- 
gers and  letters  finally  prevailed,  and  upon 
his  arrival  at  Padua  the  poet  was  received 
not  only  with  courtesy,  he  says,  "  but  as 
happy  spirits  are  received  in  Heaven."  To 
attach  him  to  the  court,  he  was  appointed 
Canon  of  Padua.  Nothing,  however,  could 
long  chain  him  in  one  place. 

The  year  1350  was  the  year  of  the  Jubilee, 
when  the  Pope  graciously  permitted  his  sub- 
jects in  all  lands  to  obtain  forgiveness  of 
their  sins  by  visiting  the  sacred  places  of 
Rome.      The   visitation   of   the    plague  had 


156  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

prepared  men's  minds  for  serious  thoughts 
and  more  than  a  million  souls  embraced 
this  opportunity.  For  a  year  the  streets 
of  the  Holy  City  were  crowded,  and  many 
were  even  crushed  to  death  in  the  throng. 
Petrarch  joined  this  army  of  devout  pil- 
grims, not  as  a  spectator  but  as  a  sincere 
Catholic.  "Fourteen  years  ago,"  he  said, 
"  I  came  to  Rome  for  the  first  time,  solely 
out  of  curiosity  to  see  its  wonders.  A  few 
years  later  the  sweet,  though  not  mature, 
desire  for  the  poetic  laurel  brought  me  here 
the  second  time.  My  third  and  fourth  jour- 
neys had  no  object  save  to  render  services 
to  my  friends.  Now  I  am  on  my  way  to 
Rome  for  the  fifth  time;  and  whether  this 
be  the  last  visit  or  not,  it  will  certainly  be 
the  most  happy,  since  the  care  of  the  soul 
is  more  noble  than  worldly  cares,  and  eter- 
nal glory  more  worthy  to  kindle  our  hearts 
than  mortal  fame."  * 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xi.  1. 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  I $7 

Petrarch's  way  to  Rome  lay  through  Flor- 
ence ;  and  he  saw  for  the  first  time  the  city 
which  would  have  been  his  birthplace  and 
his  home  but  for  the  blind  party  rage 
which  half  a  century  before  had  driven  his 
father  into  exile,  with  a  stain  upon  his  name. 
Unjust  and  bitter  as  it  might  seem  at  the 
time,  it  was  fortunate  for  Petrarch's  fame  that 
he  was  born  in  exile ;  for  it  was  to  this  fact 
he  owed  his  cosmopolitan  character.  Pe- 
trarch the  Florentine  would  have  been  a  far 
narrower  man  than  Petrarch  the  Italian. 

On  this  first  visit  to  Florence  the  poet 
was  received  with  great  honor,  although  still 
nominally  an  exile.  A  year  later  the  of- 
ficers of  the  Commune  sent  a  remarkable 
letter  to  their  "very  dear  fellow-citizen, 
Francis  Petrarch,  whose  equal  does  not  exist 
in  the  world,"  offering  him  the  rectorship 
of  their  university,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
estates  which  had  been  confiscated  at  the 
time   of  his   father's   banishment.     The  sen- 


158  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

tence  which  still  stood  against  his  father 
was  also  formally  revoked. 

Petrarch  was  flattered  at  this  public  ac- 
knowledgement. "  It  is,  O  glorious  citizens, 
a  lasting  credit  to  you  and  no  small  com- 
fort to  me,"  he  said,  "  that  you  have  thought 
fit  to  restore  the  sweet  and  chosen  seat  in 
which  my  father  and  my  grandfather,  and 
his  father  too,  —  in  which  these  my  fore- 
fathers, more  conspicuous  by  their  honesty 
than  their  escutcheons,  for  generations  grew 
old."  But  he  took  care  not  to  bind  him- 
self to  a  permanent  residence  in  Florence 
by  accepting  the  rectorship  of  her  univer- 
sity. He  had  all  his  life  avoided  obligations 
which  would  chain  him  to  one  place.  The 
Florentines,  on  their  part,  recalled  the  gift 
of  his  paternal  estates  as  soon  as  they 
found  they  were  to  receive  no  equivalent 
for  it. 

On  his  return  from  Rome  the  poet  also 
passed  through  Arezzo,  the  city  which  ac- 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  1 59 

cidentally  had  the  honor  of  being  his  birth- 
place, —  an  honor  which  she  prized  so  highly 
that  the  poet,  on  this  first  return,  was  re- 
ceived "  as  if  he  had  been  a  king,"  says 
Leonardo  Aretino. 

The  death  of  his  new  patron,  James  Car- 
rara, who  was  murdered  by  one  of  his  kins- 
men, made  Padua  for  a  time  distasteful  to 
the  poet.  He  began  to  think  longingly  of 
his  restful  solitude  at  Vaucluse,  and  in  135 1 
he  returned  once  more  to  France,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Petrarch  engaged 
in  his  famous  feud  with  the  medical  frater- 
nity of  Avignon.  He  had  a  genuine  aver- 
sion for  physicians,  and  no  faith  whatever  in 
their  skill.  It  was  in  all  sincerity,  therefore, 
that  he  wrote  to  the  Pope  on  the  occasion 
of  the  latter*  s  illness,  warning  him  to  beware 
of  the  doctors,  for  many  a  man  had  lost  his 
life  through  their  ignorance.  "  Only  to  phy- 
sicians," he  said,  u  is  it  permitted  to  kill  with 


160  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

impunity."  The  letter  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Pope's  medical  advisers,  who  thought 
it  necessary  to  reply  to  it ;  and  Petrarch  soon 
found  himself  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  the 
whole  fraternity.  The  final  result  was  his  four 
books  of  invective  against  physicians,  in 
which  he  railed  bitterly  against  the  igno- 
rance and  presumption  of  the  medical  school 
of  his  day. 

Pope  Clement  died  either  in  spite  of,  or 
by  the  aid  of,  his  physicians;  and  his  suc- 
cessor, Innocent  VI.,  looked  with  an  un- 
friendly eye  upon  literature  and  learning. 
In  fact,  he  regarded  Petrarch  as  a  magician 
or  a  necromancer,  because  of  his  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Virgil.  This  fact,  together 
with  the  loss  of  all  that  had  before  rendered 
Avignon  endurable,  made  Petrarch  impatient 
to  quit  this  "  sink  of  iniquity."  Nor  did  his 
solitude  of  Vaucluse  charm  him  as  of  old, 
since  the  death  of  Laura  had  cast  a  shadow 
over   the   spot  in  which   he  had    been  wont 


SORROWS  AND  LOSSES.  l6l 

to  sing  her  praises.  In  1353,  therefore,  he 
departed  from  France,  never  again  to  be- 
hold the  lovely  valley  where  he  had  passed 
the  happiest  and  most  fruitful  years  of  his 
life. 


11 


1 62  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


MILAN. 


"XTO  part  of  Petrarch's  life  was  more 
*  ^  puzzling  to  his  admirers,  or  required 
more  defence  and  explanation  on  his  part, 
than  the  residence  at  Milan.  He  received 
from  his  friends  many  letters  of  remonstrance, 
and  Boccaccio  in  particular  rebuked  him  se- 
verely. Much  as  he  admired  and  revered 
Petrarch,  the  younger  poet  could  not  under- 
stand how  he,  the  apostle  of  liberty,  whose 
tongue  and  pen  were  always  eloquent  in  sup- 
port of  the  freedom  of  Italy,  who  had  openly 
championed  the  cause  of  Rienzi,  could  con- 
sent to  take  up  his  residence  at  the  court  of 
a  tyrant  who  was  helping  to  enslave  Italy. 

Moreover,    Petrarch    loved   solitude.      He 
hated   the  noise,   the  confusion,  the   immo- 


MILAN.  163 


rality  of  great  cities ;  and  Milan  was  one  of 
the  largest,  noisiest,  and  most  immoral  cities 
of  Italy.  He  hated  the  corruptions  of  a 
court,  and  he  loved  his  own  personal  liberty. 
He  had  fled  from  the  court  of  Avignon,  he 
had  declined  the  office  of  Papal  secretary, 
he  had  refused  the  offers  of  the  King  of 
France  and  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany; 
what  then  had  induced  him  to  accept 
the  invitation  of  the  Archbishop  of  Milan, 
and  to  adorn  for  eight  years  the  court  of 
the  Visconti,  blind  to  their  cruelty  and 
oppression? 

The  wily  Archbishop  John  Visconti,  well 
knew  what  bait  to  use  for  Petrarch.  He 
did  not  tempt  him  with  offers  of  wealth, 
titles,  and  distinction.  He  promised  him 
freedom  and  leisure.  He  furnished  him  a 
pleasant  home  in  a  quiet  suburb  of  the  city, 
where  he  could  devote  himself  in  peace  to 
his  studies  and  his  garden.  He  was  not 
required  to   appear   at  court   at   any  stated 


1 64  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

time.  All  that  was  expected  of  him  was 
to  be  willing,  should  occasion  arise,  to  lend 
the  use  of  his  tongue  and  pen  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  patron.  "  Knowing  my  unfitness 
to  serve  him,"  says  Petrarch,  "  I  asked  him 
what  he  required  of  me.  And  he  answered 
1  that  he  desired  nothing  but  my  presence ; 
that  alone  was  sufficient  honor  for  himself 
and  his  State.'  "  The  Visconti  understood 
the  advantage  to  be  gained  from  attaching 
Petrarch  to  their  court.  The  mere  presence 
of  the  avowed  champion  of  liberty,  the  ac- 
knowledged king  of  Letters,  conferred  dis- 
tinction upon  their  reign. 

Such  delicate  flattery  was  not  without  its 
influence  upon  Petrarch.  To  the  reproaches 
of  his  friends  he  replied  in  general  terms, 
asserting  the  right  of  each  individual  to 
guide  his  own  conduct,  and  the  impossibil- 
ity of  pleasing  every  one. 

The  surprise  and  indignation  of  Petrarch's 
friends    at   this    step    are   explained    by   the 


MILAN.  165 


character  of  the  Visconti  family,  who  had 
taken  him  under  their  protection.  No  worse 
perhaps,  and  certainly  no  better  than  their 
contemporaries,  they  were  typical  tyrants, 
and  the  chief  representatives  of  a  class  that 
was  ruining  Italy,  uniting  cultivation  and  re- 
finement with  cruelty  and  unscrupulousness. 
They  were  not  only  lords  of  Milan,  l^ut  had 
obtained  control  of  twenty-two  of  the  Lom- 
bard towns ;  and  their  name  was  a  terror  to 
every  city  in  northern  Italy.  John  Visconti, 
the  archbishop,  united  the  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral power,  and  was  fond  of  appearing  in 
public  as  he  is  represented  in  his  portraits, 
with  a  crosier  in  one  hand  and  a  drawn 
sword  in  the  other.  "  The  one,"  he  said, 
"  is  the  spiritual  sceptre,  and  the  other 
the  temporal,  which  I  will  know  how  to 
wield  in  defence  of  my  empire."  When  the 
Pope,  offended  at  his  independence,  sum- 
moned him  to  Avignon,  John  replied  that 
he  would  come  with  twelve  thousand  cavalry 


1 66  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

and  six  thousand  foot  soldiers,  and  sent  to 
engage  quarters  for  himself  and  his  army 
in  the  little  city.  The  Pope,  in  dismay, 
begged  him  to  remain  at  home  and  pursue 
his  own  course.  The  archbishop  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  three  nephews,  —  one  of  whom 
was  noted  for  his  sensuality,  another  for  his 
lavish  display  of  magnificence,  and  the  third 
for  refinements  of  cruelty  unparalleled  in  his- 
tory. All  three  were  equally  generous  and 
friendly  to  Petrarch,  and  retained  his  friend- 
ship through  life. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  Petrarch,  like 
other  leaders  of  the  Renaissance,  judged  men 
from  an  intellectual  and  aesthetic  rather  than 
an  ethical  standpoint.  He  admired  talent  and 
success.  A  genuine  love  of  letters  did  much 
to  atone  for  a  man's  vices.  The  bond  be- 
tween himself  and  Rienzi  had  been  greatly 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  tribune's 
enthusiasm  for  antiquity  was  equal  to  his 
own.     Ambition   may  also  have  had  some- 


MILAN.  167 


thing  to  do  with  Petrarch's  willingness  to 
remain  in  Milan.  He  was  flattered  at  the 
thought  of  playing  a  political  r61e,  of  being 
a  power  in  the  world  of  affairs  as  well  as 
in  the  world  of  letters.  He  was  frequently- 
sent  upon  diplomatic  missions,  was  often 
intrusted  with  the  composition  of  important 
official  letters,  and  was  called  upon  to  de- 
liver orations  on  State  occasions.  No  pub- 
lic ceremonial  was  complete  without  his 
presence,  and  no  princely  visitor  was  ac- 
corded higher  honors. 

Petrarch's  first  diplomatic  task  was  the  at- 
tempt to  negotiate  a  peace  between  Venice 
and  Genoa,  —  an  object  so  near  his  heart  that 
he  undertook  it  gladly.  The  two  republics 
had  long  been  at  war,  and  the  Italian  heart 
of  Petrarch  was  grieved  at  the  sight  of  Ital- 
ians shedding  each  others'  blood.  He  had 
written  many  eloquent  letters  to  the  Doge 
of  Venice  and  to  the  Doge  of  Genoa,  urg- 
ing them  to  put  an  end  to  the  fratricidal 


1 68  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

contest.  "  It  behooves  a  man  to  be  touched 
by  the  woes  of  humanity,"  he  said,  "  an  Ital- 
ian to  be  moved  by  the  woes  of  Italy.  If 
you  must  have  war,  turn  your  arms  against 
the  Byzantines,  against  the  infidels  of  the 
Holy  Land,  but  spare  your  countrymen,  spare 
Italy !  If  one  of  you  should  succeed  in  con- 
quering the  other,  what  would  be  the  result? 
Simply  that  one  of  the  eyes  of  Italy  would 
be  extinguished,  the  other  weakened."  He 
is  especially  indignant  at  the  thought  of 
Italians  invoking  the  aid  of  barbarians  to 
ruin  Italians,  —  Genoa  having  allied  herself 
with  Aragon,  Venice  with  the  Byzantine 
emperor.  He  paints  in  burning  words  the 
disgrace,  the  insane  folly,  of  hiring  foreigners 
to  destroy  the  mother  country.1  His  remon- 
strances had  produced  no  effect,  although  the 
Doge  of  Venice,  who  had  long  been  his 
friend,  answered  his  letter  respectfully,  ac- 
knowledging the  truth  of  some  of  his  argu- 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xi.  8,  xiv.  5  and  6,  xv.  4. 


MILAN.  169 


ments,  but  maintaining  the  right  of  Venice 
to  punish  Genoa  for  her  insolence. 

In  1353,  soon  after  Petrarch's  arrival  in 
Milan,  the  Genoese  were  reduced  to  such 
straits  that  they  voluntarily  placed  their  city 
under  the  protection  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Milan.  The  latter  accepted  the  charge ;  and 
since  it  was  to  his  interest  as  well  as  that 
of  Genoa  to  establish  peace,  an  embassy 
was  sent  to  Venice  with  Petrarch  at  its  head. 
The  long  Latin  oration  which  he  delivered 
before  the  doge  and  council  had  as  little 
effect  as  his  impassioned  letters.  The  Ve- 
netians, flushed  with  success,  refused  to  lis- 
ten to  proposals  of  peace. 

Petrarch  had  been  only  a  year  in  Milan 
when  his  new  patron,  the  archbishop,  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  three  nephews, 
Matteo,  Bernabo,  and  Galeazzo.  The  change 
made  no  difference  in  Petrarch's  position. 
He  continued  to  occupy  the  same  anoma- 
lous post  of  court  poet,   orator,  counsellor, 


170  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

and  friend.  When  the  new  rulers  took  pub- 
lic possession  of  their  office,  Petrarch  was 
chosen  to  address  the  people  of  Milan,  an- 
nouncing the  change  of  government,  eulo- 
gizing the  dead  prince,  and  promising  a 
brilliant  future  for  his  successors.  In  the 
midst  of  his  oration  he  was  interrupted  by 
the  court  astrologer,  who  informed  him  that 
the  favorable  time  for  the  ceremony  had 
arrived,  and  that  it  could  not  be  delayed. 
Petrarch  obligingly  ceased,  although  he  could 
scarcely  conceal  his  contempt  for  the  charla- 
tan, since  he  did  not  share  the  credulity  of 
his  age  in  regard  to  astrology.  In  a  few 
moments  the  astrologer  learned  that  the 
conjunction  of  the  planets  was  not  exactly 
right,  and  begged  the  speaker  to  resume  the 
thread  of  his  discourse.  "  I  have  finished, 
I  have  finished,"  the  poet  replied  laughing; 
and  the  crowd  was  obliged  to  await  in  silence 
the  auspicious  moment.1 

1  Let.  Sen.,  iii.  I. 


MILAN.  171 


Soon  after  the  accession  of  the  young 
princes  an  event  occurred  which  illustrates 
the  ideal  character  of  Petrarch's  political 
views  and  his  habit  of  misapprehending  the 
force  of  a  mere  name.  This  was  the  long- 
expected  descent  of  the  German  emperor, 
Charles  IV.,  into  Italy,  —  an  event  to  which, 
it  would  seem,  Petrarch  had  long  looked 
forward  for  the  salvation  of  his  country. 

The  poet  has  been  accused  of  inconsis- 
tency in  his  political  views,  but  to  one  cen- 
tral idea  he  was  always  true,  —  namely,  the 
supremacy  of  Rome.  No  matter  how  fan- 
tastic the  means  employed,  or  how  impos- 
sible the  task;  no  matter  through  whom  it 
was  brought  about,  whether  through  tribune, 
Pope,  or  emperor,  —  whoever  would  under- 
take to  make  Rome  mistress  of  the  world, 
was  sure  of  the  warm  support  of  Petrarch. 

After  the  cruel  disappointment  of  the 
hopes  built  upon  Rienzi's  undertaking,  he 
had  turned  his  thoughts  to  Charles  IV.,  and 


172  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

to  the  restoration  of  the  dignity  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire.  He  failed  to  realize  that 
institutions  grow  and  decay,  and  that  it  was 
no  more  possible  to  revive  the  dead  empire 
than  to  restore  the  Roman  republic. 

Charles  IV.  had  been  educated  in  Italy; 
and  this  fact,  together  with  his  love  for  let- 
ters, atoned  to  some  extent  for  his  German 
blood,  and  freed  him  from  the  reproach  of 
being  a  barbarian. 

Petrarch  had  written  the  emperor  several 
earnest  letters,  urging  the  necessity  of  his 
presence,  and  the  ease  with  which  he  might 
obtain  glory  for  himself  and  unity  for  Italy, 
by  coming  to  Rome  to  receive  the  imperial 
crown  and  to  revive  the  empire.  But  Charles 
was  a  prudent  prince,  not  easily  aroused  by 
poetical  enthusiasm.  In  reply  to  Petrarch's 
letters  he  pointed  out  the  difficulty  of  the 
enterprise  and  the  unworthiness  of  the 
Italians. 

Petrarch  was  not  discouraged.     With  a  still 


MILAN.  173 


more  urgent  and  eloquent  pen  he  answered 
all  of  Charles's  objections,  held  before  him 
the  example  of  his  ancestors,  and,  to  show 
how  easily  he  might  conquer  his  own  terri- 
tory, cited  the  example  of  Rienzi.  "  But  re- 
cently," he  said,  "  a  humble  plebeian,  —  not 
King  of  Rome,  not  consul,  not  patrician,  but 
a  simple  and  almost  unknown  Roman  citi- 
zen, without  splendid  titles  or  famous  ances- 
tors, or  any  of  the  things  which  give  a  man 
distinction,  —  arose  and  proclaimed  himself 
liberator  of  Rome.  Splendid  announcement 
for  an  obscure  man !  And  you  know  how 
spontaneously  Tuscany  extended  her  hand  to 
him  and  acknowledged  his  reign.  All  Italy 
followed  her  example,  and  Europe  listened 
to  his  voice.  We  did  not  read  of  those 
things,  we  saw  them  with  our  own  eyes. 
Already  justice  and  peace  returned  among 
us,  with  their  companions,  faith  and  tranquil 
security,  and  the  golden  age  seemed  re- 
newed.    Among  all  the  titles  of  the  Roman 


174  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


magistracy  he  took  the  lowest,  that  of  tri- 
bune. If  then  the  name  of  tribune  had  so 
much  power,  what  could  not  the  name  of 
Emperor  do?"  To  Charles's  dark  picture  of 
the  state  of  Italy  he  replied,  "To  whom 
are  the  evils  of  the  kingdom  a  disgrace  but 
tp  the  king?  If,  as  you  say,  the  liberty  of 
the  empire  is  destroyed,  you,  who  are  father 
of  the  empire,  should  restore  it.  If  the 
Latins  are  bowed  under  a  yoke  of  servitude, 
you  should  remove  it.  If  justice  is  prosti- 
tuted, you  should  redeem  it.  For  this  were 
you- born,  —  this  is  your  office.  Not  until 
you  have  finished  this  task  can  you  really 
call  yourself  emperor."  1 

Whether  moved  by  the  appeals  of  Petrarch 
or  by  those  of  the  Lombard  League,  who 
had  asked  his  aid  in  checking  the  ever-grow- 
ing power  of  the  Visconti,  Charles  finally, 
in  1354,  undertook  the  long-deferred  Italian 
journey.     Petrarch  was  filled  with  joy  at  the 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xviii.  1. 


MILAN.  175 


tidings    of  his    coming,   and    despatched    an 
enthusiastic  letter  of  welcome. 

Although  it  was  rumored  that  Charles  was 
coming  with  hostile  intentions  toward  them, 
the  Visconti  did  not  resent  the  attitude  of 
Petrarch.  They  were  confident  of  their  abil- 
ity to  change  the  emperor's  views ;  and  in 
fact,  the  embassy  sent  to  Mantua  had  no 
trouble  in  arranging  a  friendly  compact 
by  which  Charles  was  to  receive  the  iron 
crown  of  Milan  and  the  Visconti  were  to 
be  appointed   imperial  vicars. 

The  emperor  gave  evidence  of  his  regard 
for  Petrarch  by  sending  a  special  messenger 
to  Milan,  inviting  him  to  Mantua.  "  He 
who  is  accustomed  to  command  kings,  re- 
quested me  to  come  to  him,"  says  the  poet, 
with  pardonable  pride.  The  invitation  was 
accepted,  although  it  necessitated  a  four 
days'  journey  in  inclement  weather.  The 
prince  of  Letters  was  received  by  the  em- 
peror as  an  honored  guest,  and  several  days 


176  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

were  passed  in  confidential  intercourse,  the 
two  often  talking  alone  from  dawn  till  dark. 

One  is  surprised  at  the  frankness  of  Pe- 
trarch, and  no  less  so  at  the  equanimity  of 
the  emperor,  who  did  not  resent  it.  Charles 
having  requested  Petrarch  to  dedicate  to  him 
his  work  on  illustrious  men,  the  latter  replied 
that  he  would  gladly  do  so  if  the  emperor 
should  prove  himself  worthy  of  that  honor. 
"I  will  hold  you  worthy,"  he  explained, 
"  when  you  are  distinguished,  not  by  the  vain 
splendor  of  a  crown  and  a  title,  but  by  glo- 
rious deeds."  "  And  he  bowed  his  august 
head  in  approval,"  adds  Petrarch,  in  relating 
it. 

The  hopes  which  Petrarch  had  built  upon 
the  emperor's  coming  were  soon  to  be 
cruelly  shattered.  After  receiving  the  iron 
crown  in  Milan,  Charles  hastened  on  to 
Rome  for  the  crown  of  gold.  In  the  mean 
time  he  had  made  a  disgraceful  bargain  with 
the  Pope,  by  which  he  bound  himself  not  to 


MILAN.  177 


sleep  in  the  Eternal  City.  He  therefore  left 
Rome  immediately  after  the  coronation,  re- 
turning to  Germany  with  such  unseemly 
haste  that  his  departure  resembled  a  flight 
rather  than  the  march  of  a  newly  crowned 
emperor.  Charles  had  gained  in  Italy  the 
empty  honor  of  the  coronation  and  a  pocket- 
ful of  Italian  money,  and  had  given  the  final 
blow  to  the  dignity  of  the  empire  by  his  re- 
peated bargains  and  sales  with  the  Italian 
cities. 

Filled  with  chagrin  at  this  fiasco,  Petrarch 
made  use  of  his  customary  weapon,  —  a  let- 
ter, in  which  he  overwhelmed  the  emperor 
with  reproaches.  "  That  for  which  your  an- 
cestors shed  so  much  blood  and  endured  so 
many  hardships,  you  have  abandoned  with- 
out a  struggle.  No  prince  has  ever  volun- 
tarily sacrificed  so  great,  so  fair,  so  ripe  a 
hope.  Emperor  of  the  Romans,  you  sigh 
only  for  Bohemia.  Your  father  and  your 
grandfather    would    not   have    done   so,    but 


178  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

virtue  is  not  transmitted  by  heredity.  What 
would  they  have  said  if  they  had  met  you 
in  the  passes  of  the  Alps?  They  might  have 
said,  '  You  have  gained  much,  illustrious  Cae- 
sar, by  your  long-expected  journey  into  Italy 
and  your  hasty  return.  You  have  brought 
back  a  crown  of  iron,  a  crown  of  gold,  and  an 
empty  title.  You  may  be  called  Emperor 
of  the  Romans,  but  you  are  in  truth  only 
King  of  Bohemia.  Caesar,  farewell ;  think  of 
what  you  have  left,  and  whither  you  are 
going.' "  \ 

This  outburst  did  not  interrupt  the  friendly 
relations  existing  between  the  two ;  for  when, 
a  year  later,  the  Visconti  chose  Petrarch  as 
ambassador  to  the  imperial  court  at  Prague, 
he  was  received  with  the  same  cordiality  as 
before.  The  emperor  continued  to  hold  Pe- 
trarch in  high  esteem,  conferring  upon  him 
the  rank  of  Count  Palatine,  sending  him 
costly  presents,  and  inviting  him  urgently  and 

1  Ep   Fam.,  xix.  12. 


MILAN.  179 


repeatedly  to  reside  at  his  court,  Petrarch, 
on  the  other  hand,  never  wholly  abandoned 
his  efforts  to  arouse  in  Charles  IV.  some  en- 
thusiasm for  forsaken  Rome  and  neglected 
Italy. 

In  1360,  Petrarch  was  sent  upon  another 
long  and  difficult  journey  over  the  Alps,  — 
this  time  to  Paris.  The  Visconti,  by  means 
of  the  misfortunes  of  France,  had  been  able 
to  ally  themselves  with  the  royal  house. 
King  John  of  France  had  long  been  a  pris- 
oner of  Edward  of  England,  and  to  obtain 
the  money  for  his  ransom  had  married  his 
daughter  to  the  son  of  Galeazzo  Visconti. 
It  was  necessary  for  the  Visconti  to  send  an 
embassy  to  France  to  congratulate  the  king 
upon  the  recovery  of  his  liberty.  Petrarch 
was  naturally  chosen  for  the  head  of  the 
embassy,  and  he  made  upon  the  King  of 
France  the  same  favorable  impression  that 
he  had  made  upon  other  rulers.  He  was 
warmly  entreated,  both  by  the  king  and  the 


180  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

dauphin,  to  remain  permanently  with  them ; 
but  he  declared  himself  unable  to  live  out- 
side of  Italy. 

On  his  return  to  Milan,  in  1361,  Petrarch 
found  the  city  almost  deserted.  The  terri- 
ble pestilence  which  had  desolated  Italy  in 
1348,  had  again  returned,  sweeping  away 
nearly  two  thirds  of  the  population  of  Milan. 
Of  the  survivors,  all  who  were  able  fled  from 
the  city,  and  Petrarch  followed  their  exam- 
ple. He  did  not  again  make  his  home  in 
Milan,  although  he  had  become  greatly  at- 
tached to  the  place,  —  not  only  to  the  people, 
but  to  the  streets,  the  atmosphere,  the  build- 
ings, and  especially  to  his  little  country 
home  at  Garignano,  three  miles  distant. 

Petrarch's  relations  with  the  Visconti  were 
not  severed,  however,  by  his  change  of  resi- 
dence. He  continued  to  receive  marks  of 
favor  from  them,  to  be  employed  by  them 
on  embassies,  and  he  was  a  frequent  guest 
at  the  summer  home  of  Galeazzo  in  Pavia. 


PETRARCH'S  CHILDREN.  l8l 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PETRARCH'S    CHILDREN. 

'HHHERE  is  one  subject  which  the  bio- 
grapher of  Petrarch  always  approaches 
with  reluctance,  not  only  on  moral  grounds 
but  for  aesthetic  reasons.  The  mind  re- 
coils from  the  fact  that  the  inspired  singer 
of  the  "  Canzoniere,"  who  has  been  held  up 
for  five  centuries  as  the  ideal  lover,  able 
to  worship  one  woman  for  twenty  years 
without  a  word  of  encouragement  from  her, 
was  at  the  same  time  the  father  of  two  ille- 
gitimate children  by  another  and  unknown 
woman. 

The  fact  that  Petrarch  was  an  ecclesiastic 
did  not  add  to  his  fault  in  the  eyes  of  his 
contemporaries,  for  the  celibacy  of  the  priest- 
hood was  known  to  be  a  mere  empty  phrase. 


1 82  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH 

From  popes  and  cardinals  down,  there  were 
very  few  in  the  ranks  of  the  priesthood  who 
would  dare  to  cast  a  stone  for  that  offence. 

The  general  immorality  of  the  day  and 
particularly  of  the  Church,  may  be  argued 
from  the  fact  that  when  Petrarch's  enemies 
sought  for  slanders  with  which  to  blacken  his 
name,  not  one  of  them  thought  of  mentioning 
his  illegitimate  children  as  a  disgrace  to  him 
or  to  his  profession,  although  their  existence 
was  well  known  and  acknowledged. 

Petrarch  seems  to  have  taken  charge  of  his 
children  from  the  first,  making  himself  re- 
sponsible for  their  education,  and  having 
both  legitimatized  by  a  Papal  bull.  Of 
the  mother,  nothing  whatever  is  known, 
as  he  makes  no  mention  of  her  in  any  of  his 
letters.  It  is  probable  that  the  two  children 
were  born  of  one  mother,  but  even  that  much 
cannot  be  affirmed  with  certainty. 

John,  the  elder,  was  born  in  1337,  about 
the  time  of  Petrarch's  retirement  to  Vaucluse. 


PETRARCH'S  CHILDREN.  1 83 


The  daughter,    Francesca,    was   born   about 
six  years  later. 

The  son  during  the  whole  of  his  short  life 
brought  nothing  but  discredit  and  annoy- 
ance to  his  father.  The  portrait  which 
Petrarch  has  drawn  of  him  in  various  letters 
is  by  no  means  a  flattering  one.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  the  poet's  system  of  education 
had  many  defects,  and  was  not  calculated 
to  produce  the  best  results  in  character. 
His  wandering  and  restless  life  made  it  in- 
convenient to  keep  the  boy  always  with 
him,  and  Petrarch  was  constantly  changing 
him  from  one  school  to  another,  writing  let- 
ters of  instruction  to  his  teachers,  in  which 
he  recommends  them  not  to  spare  the 
rod,  to  punish  light  faults  with  the  tongue 
and  serious  ones  with  blows;  but  he  urges 
them  to  implant  the  right  principles  in  the 
boy's  breast.  "The  knowledge  of  letters 
is  a  noble  thing,"  he  says,  "  but  virtue 
is    far    nobler.      It    is    not    granted    to    all 


1 84  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

to  become  learned,  but  all  may  become 
virtuous." 

From  his  own  confession  we  learn  that 
Petrarch  never  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
confidence  of  his  son.  In  commending  him 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  to  a  new  preceptor,  he 
says,  "  I  do  not  believe  he  is  wholly  devoid  of 
talent,  but  I  cannot  say  certainly ;  for  when 
in  my  presence,  whether  through  fear  of  me 
or  through  shame  at  his  own  ignorance,  he 
preserves  an  obstinate  silence.  I  cannot  get 
one  word  from  his  lips."  * 

That  the  lad  is  not  a  student,  the  father 
well  knows. 

"  I  cannot  deceive  myself.  I  do  not  think 
there  is  a  person  in  the  world  who  dislikes 
study  so  much  as  he  does.  There  is  nothing 
he  so  hates  and  abhors  as  a  book.  He  looks 
upon  books  as  his  worst  enemies.  An  ugly 
beginning  you  will  say ;  and  I  reply  that  it  is 
ugly,  but  true.  I  have  not  undertaken  to 
1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  2. 


PETRARCH'S  CHILDREN.  185 

compose  a  heroic  poem  in  his  praise,  or 
to  describe  to  you  an  ideal  youth,  but  this 
boy  as  he  is."  l 

To  provide  for  his  material  needs,  Petrarch 
applied  for  a  benefice  for  his  son;  and  the 
latter  was  given  a  canonicate  at  Verona, 
before  he  had  completed  his'  fifteenth  year. 
When  the  youthful  incumbent  was  sent  to 
take  possession  of  his  canonicate,  his  educa- 
tion was  intrusted  to  two  of  Petrarch's  oldest 
and  most  valued  friends  in  Verona.  Their 
account  must  have  been  very  unfavorable ;  for 
a  year  later  Petrarch  writes  to  his  son  that 
the  reports  he  receives  show  that  his  conduct 
grows  every  day  more  disgraceful,  and  that 
he  has  decided  to  punish  him,  by  refusing 
to  write  to  him  or  to  send  him  money. 

In  1354,  the  young  man  lost  his  canonicate 
at  Verona,  not  through  any  misdeeds  of  his 
own,  but  because  of  his  father's  friendship 
with  Azzo  of  Correggio. 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xiii.  2. 


1 86  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH, 

The  Scaligers,  lords  of  Verona,  had  found 
Azzo  guilty  of  treason;  and  they  visited  their 
wrath  upon  every  one  remotely  connected 
with  him.  Petrarch  was  therefore  obliged  to 
receive  his  son  under  his  own  roof  at  Milan. 

Four  years  later  he  finds  that  as  regards 
study  the  case  is  as  hopeless  as  ever,  although 
in  conduct  the  youth  has  improved;  and  the 
father  seeks  to  console  himself  with  the 
thought  that  right  conduct  is  of  more  im- 
portance than  learning. 

"  He  is  not  without  talent,  but  of  what 
avail  is  it  without  study?  And  he  shuns  a 
book  as  if  it  were  a  snake.  But  if  he  will 
be  good,  I  am  satisfied.  He  who  dies  good 
is  not  born  in  vain.  I  am  pleased,  in  truth, 
with  his  talent,  but  vexed  at  the  way  he  mis- 
uses it.  Prayers,  caresses,  threats,  and  blows, 
—  I  have  tried  all  without  avail.  His  nature 
is  more  powerful  than  all  my  force.  And  so 
let  it  be.  The  name  of  a  scholar  is  a  fine 
thing,  but  difficult  to  acquire.     It  is  easier  to 


PETRARCH'S  CHILDREN.  1 87 

pardon  a  lack  of  knowledge  than  a  lack  of 
virtue.  Virtue  is  within  the  reach  of  all, 
knowledge  only  of  the  few.  Yet  indeed  the 
boy  might  be  one  of  the  few  if  he  would; 
but  if  he  obstinately  refuses,  what  am  I  to  do? 
I  have  done  my  duty,  I  can  only  await  results, 
resigned  to  whatever  may  happen.  All  can 
not  be  Ciceros,  Platos,  Virgils,  but  all  can  be 
good  if  they  wish.  Finally,  if  I  have  to  do 
without  one  or  the  other,  I  would  rather  have 
a  man  without  learning  than  learning  without 
a  man."  1 

He  was  soon  undeceived  as  to  the  apparent 
reformation  in  his  son.  The  conduct  of  the 
latter  became  so  unbearable  that  Petrarch 
was  obliged  to  banish  him  from  his  house. 
Driven  to  extremes,  the  poet  shows  himself 
capable  of  great  severity.  "  I  would  show 
patience,"  he  said,  "  if  you  had  not  so  long 
abused  my  patience.  I  would  be  indulgent, 
if  you  had  not  ungratefully  trampled  my 
1  Ep.  Fam.,  xix.  17. 


1 88  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

indulgence  under  foot.  I  have  borne  these 
things  as  long  as  I  could,  in  the  hope  that 
you  might  sometime  change ;  but  that  hope 
is  wholly  dispelled.  Wearied  and  harassed 
by  the  insupportable  burden,  I  have  driven 
you  from  me,  I  have  banished  you  from  my 
house.  And  now  you  ask,  when  will  your 
exile  have  an  end  ?  It  will  end,  I  reply,  when 
you  have  wholly  changed  the  tenpr  of  your 
life.  Love  is  conquered  in  me,  hope  de- 
stroyed, patience  exhausted.  You  may  not 
cross  my  threshold  so  long  as  you  are  what 
you  were  when  you  left  me.  If  you  wish  to 
return  to  me,  everything  must  be  changed,  — 
your  habits,  tastes,  step,  gestures,  carriage, 
the  sound  of  your  voice,  the  movements  of 
your  eyebrows.  Take  care  not  to  bring  back 
with  you  any  of  those  things  which  render 
you  hateful  to  those  to  whom  nature  has  made 
you  dear,  and  especially  your  foolish  pride, 
your  shameful  contempt."  1 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xxii.  7. 


PETRARCH'S  CHILDREN.  1 89 

Yet  in  the  very  midst  of  his  wrath,  Petrarch 
is  anxious  to  pardon,  unwilling  to  abandon  all 
hope  of  a  reformation.  De  Sade,  and  other 
biographers  on  his  authority,  accuse  Petrarch's 
son  of  being  implicated  in  a  robbery  which 
the  poet  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  servants  ; 
and  they  cite  this  as  the  cause  of  his  banish- 
ment from  his  father's  house.  But  the  proof 
is  vague,  and  we  are  loath,  without  further 
evidence,  to  believe  him  guilty  of  this  un- 
natural crime. 

That  there  were  sufficient  reasons  for  his 
son's  punishment,  without  adding  this  crime 
to  the  list,  is  seen  from  Petrarch's  letter  to 
Guido  Settimo,  in  which  he  gives  utterance 
to  his  bitter  disappointment :  "  After  I  have 
educated  him  with  so  much  care  and  trouble 
for  twenty-three  years,  in  the  hope  that  he 
would  be  to  me  in  my  old  age  a  help  and 
an  honor,  he  returns  me  only  trouble,  dis- 
grace, and  sorrow.  Although  capable,  if  he 
wished,  of  knowledge    and  virtue,  he  is  the 


190  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

enemy  of  both,  —  outrageous  in  manners, 
cowardly,  envious,  arrogant,  disobedient,  the 
slave  of  his  passions,  a  servant  of  luxury  and 
wantonness."  1 

Petrarch  was  again  beginning  to  hope  for 
better  things,  and  to  believe  in  his  son's  ref- 
ormation, when  the  latter  died  suddenly  of  the 
plague,  in  1361.  In  the  twenty-four  years 
of  his  life  he  had  given  little  pleasure  either 
to  himself  or  to  his  father.  The  poet 
mourned  his  death,  but  was  obliged  to  confess 
that  he  was  relieved  of  a  long  anxiety,  nor 
could  he  deceive  himself  with  the  thought 
that  there  would  have  been  any  great  change 
if  his  son  had  lived. 

In  his  daughter,  Petrarch  found  more 
happiness.  Of  her  education  and  training 
we  know  nothing;  but  from  the  time  of  her 
marriage,  in  1363,  she  made  a  home  for 
her  father  until  his  death. 

Boccaccio  has  left  a  charming  description 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xxiii.  12. 


PETRARCH'S   CHILDREN.  191 

of  a  visit  to  that  home  in  Petrarch's  absence. 
It  was  an  exceptionally  happy  home  in  all  re- 
spects. Francesca's  husband  bore  the  same 
name  as  her  father,  Francesco ;  and  Petrarch 
writes  in  his  old  age  that  Francesco  and 
Francesca  are  dearer  to  him  than  his  own 
soul.  He  delighted  in  his  grandchildren, 
especially  in  his  grandson,  who  was  said 
to  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  him. 
When  the  little  one  died  at  the  age  of  two 
years,  Petrarch  was  overwhelmed  with  grief. 
He  questioned,  he  said,  whether  he  had  ever 
in  his  life  loved  any  one  else  as  he  loved 
that  child. 


192  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH, 


V 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


BOCCACCIO. 


NO  man  was  ever  so  rich  in  friends  as 
Petrarch,  and  it  is  in  his  relations  with 
his  friends  that  we  see  the  most  delightful 
side  of  his  character.  Few  men  are  capa- 
ble of  so  many  genuine  and  lasting  friend- 
ships, and  fewer  still  have  the  power  of  in- 
spiring such  enthusiastic  love  in  those  with 
whom  they  come  in  contact.  Through  all 
his  life  we  see  him  surrounded  by  friends,  — 
not  humble  admirers  (like  the  goldsmith  of 
Bergamo)  who  must  worship  him  from  a 
distance,  not  princely  patrons  who  delighted 
to  do  him  honor,  but  friends  whom  he  loved 
and  trusted,  and  who  repaid  him  in  kind. 
His  ideal  of  friendship  was  very  high.  "  It 
cannot  be  founded  on  self-interest,"  he  said. 


BOCCACCIO.  193 


"  In  friendship  you  must  seek  only  friend- 
ship. The  true  friend  thinks  only  of  his 
friend."  His  own  disinterestedness  is  shown 
by  the  substantial  favors  which  he  was  always 
conferring  upon  his  friends,  and  by  his  gen- 
erous offers  to  share  his  home  and  his  in- 
come with  such  of  them  as  needed  it. 

The  list  of  Petrarch's  chosen  friends  is  too 
long  for  mention,  and  of  many  of  them  we 
know  little,  save  that  they  enjoyed  his  friend- 
ship. Many  names  that  were  of  great  im- 
portance in  their  day  have  been  preserved 
from  oblivion  only  because  they  are  so  often 
mentioned  in  the  letters  of  Petrarch.  Even 
his  Laelius  and  his  Socrates,  two  of  the  old- 
est and  most  trusted  friends,  with  whom  he 
sustained  confidential  relations  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  are  but  shadowy  figures.  We 
know  so  little  of  their  history  and  personal- 
ity that  we  are  apt  to  think  of  them  merely 
as  the  recipients  of  Petrarch's  letters.  We 
know  nothing  of  what  they  gave  back  in 
«3 


194  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

return  for  his  confidence,  his  encouragement, 
and  his  many  marks  of  affection. 

With  Boccaccio  it  is  different.  The  strik- 
ing individuality  of  both  men  made  this 
friendship  of  the  fourteenth  century  unique 
in  the  history  of  letters.  Petrarch  and  Boc- 
caccio were  the  greatest  living  writers,  not 
only  of  Italy  but  of  the  world;  and  it  was 
certainly  of  great  advantage  to  the  world  that 
instead  of  any  rivalry  between  them  there 
existed  only  the  closest  friendship.  Instead 
of  each  forming  a  school,  they  worked  to- 
gether in  perfect  harmony,  the  one  perfect- 
ing Italian  verse,  the  other  creating  Italian 
prose,  —  both  laboring  to  arouse  the  world 
to  a  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  long 
neglected  classics,  thus  preparing  the  way 
for  the  wonderful  awakening  of  the  follow- 
ing century,  called  the  Renaissance. 

Their  friendship  began  in  1350.  From  an 
expression  in  a  letter  of  Boccaccio's  to  Pe- 
trarch's son-in-law,  some  have  thought  it  of 


BOCCACCIO.  195 


older  date ;  but  since  Petrarch  in  describing 
their  meeting  in  1350,  states  explicitly  that 
Boccaccio  had  never  seen  him,  the  expres- 
sion, "  I  have  been  his  for  more  than  forty 
years,"  must  be  taken  to  mean,  "  I  have  ad- 
mired him  for  more  than  forty  years."  There 
had  probably  been  some  correspondence  be- 
tween them,  for  Petrarch  mentions  a  Latin 
poem  sent  him  by  Boccaccio  in  praise  of 
his  "  Africa." 

The  first  meeting  occurred  in  1350,  when 
Petrarch  visited  Florence  on  his  way  to  the 
Jubilee  at  Rome.  On  this  his  first  visit  to 
his  native  city,  Boccaccio  came  to  meet 
him,  and  entertained  him  in  his  own  house, 
treating  him  with  a  reverence  and  courtesy 
which  the  poet  gratefully  declared  were 
far  beyond  his  deserts.  Each  was  instantly 
attracted  to  the  other ;  and  a  friendship  was 
contracted  which  was  never  interrupted  by 
a  shadow  of  ill  will,  and  which  continued 
until  the  death  of  Petrarch,  twenty-four  years 


196  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

later.  The  intimate  and  personal  character 
of  their  correspondence  shows  that  the  friend- 
ship was  not  merely  a  literary  one. 

Little  more  than  a  year  after  their  first 
meeting,  Boccaccio  was  chosen  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  Florence  to  convey  to  Petrarch,  at 
Padua,  the  invitation  to  return  to  his  native 
city  and  to  fill  a  chair  in  her  university.  It 
is  pleasant  to  read  Boccaccio's  description 
of  his  stay  under  Petrarch's  roof,  —  how  the 
latter  gave  the  daylight  hours  to  his  usual 
work  of  studying  and  writing,  while  the  guest 
passed  the  time  in  reading  and  copying  the 
writings  of  his  host,  which  he  had  long 
wished  to  possess.  At  evening  they  would 
repair  to  the  garden,  and  give  themselves 
up  to  the  discussion  of  the  two  subjects 
dearest  to  their  hearts,  —  literature  and  Italy. 
The  fact  that  Petrarch  evaded  the  invitation 
of  Florence,  and  that  the  Signory  recalled 
the  gift  of  his  estates,  made  no  difference  in 
the  relation  of  the  two  friends.     Their  corre- 


BOCCACCIO.  197 


spondence  continued  as  frank  and  intimate 
as  before. 

Notwithstanding  Boccaccio's  reverence  for 
his  master,  as  he  loved  to  call  him,  there  was 
no  subservience  of  opinion.  The  younger 
man  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his  disap- 
proval of  Petrarch's  residence  at  Milan.  "  I 
ought  not  to  speak,"  he  says,  "  but  I  cannot 
keep  silence.  My  respect  and  veneration 
for  you  command  silence,  but  indignation 
at  that  which  I  have  heard  forces  me  to 
speak."  Not  only  did  Petrarch  not  resent 
his  interference,  but  took  pains  to  answer 
his  reproaches  and  justify  his  own  course. 

At  another  time  Boccaccio  mildly  reproved 
his  friend  for  not  having  in  his  own  library  a 
copy  of  the  Divine  Comedy.  Being  himself 
an  enthusiastic  worshipper  of  the  great  poet, 
whose  life  he  had  written  and  whose  Comedy 
he  expounded  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  he 
resented  Petrarch's  neglect  of  Dante.  He 
therefore  presented  him  with  a  copy  of  the 


198  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Divine  Comedy,  accompanying  the  gift  with 
the  suggestion  that  Petrarch  ought  not  to 
give  color  to  the  accusation  that  he  envied 
his  great  predecessor. 

Petrarch  defends  himself  at  length  from 
the  charge  of  envy.  "  No  sin  is  farther 
from  me,  none  more  unknown  to  me,"  he 
says,  "  than  envy.  As  to  Dante  in  particu- 
lar, I  have  no  reason  to  hate  him  who  lived 
on  terms  of  intimacy  with  my  father  and 
my  grandfather,  and  was  banished  with  them 
by  their  political  adversaries.  I  admire  his 
steadfastness  of  purpose,  not  to  be  bent  by 
poverty  or  persecution."  He  adds  that  he 
has  intentionally  neglected  Dante  for  fear  of 
unconsciously  imitating  him.  Now  that  his 
own  style  is  formed,  that  danger  no  longer 
exists.  He  concedes  to  Dante  the  first  rank 
among  the  writers  of  the  vulgar  tongue.  But 
Petrarch  is  sincere  in  believing  that  his  own 
works  will  outrank  Dante's,  —  not  because  of 
their  matter,  but  because  they  are  written  in 


BOCCACCIO.  199 


the  noble  Latin  tongue  while  Dante's  are 
in  the  vernacular.  Petrarch  can  never  be- 
lieve that  Italian,  the  tongue  of  the  people, 
can  ever  become  the  language  of  literature. 
"  How  can  I  envy  him  who  has  devoted  his 
whole  life  to  that  to  which  I  gave  only  the 
flower  and  first  fruits  of  my  youth  ?  "  x 

Petrarch  himself  could  also  reprove  and 
admonish  when  occasion  required.  Boccac- 
cio acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  his 
"  master  "  for  turning  him  away  from  a  life 
of  vanity  and  pleasure. 

But  the  exchange  of  favors  was  not  limited 
to  good  advice.  Knowing  Petrarch's  passion 
for  the  classics,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing correct  copies,  Boccaccio  copied  with 
his  own  hand  a  number  of  the  works  of 
Cicero  and  of  Varro  as  a  gift  to  his  friend. 
"  Before  I  am  through  thanking  you  for  one 
favor  you  do  me  another,"  writes  Petrarch. 
Boccaccio  also  sent  him  a  copy  of  Saint 
1  Epk  Pam.,  xxi.  15. 


200  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Augustine,  which  Petrarch  declared  would 
cause  him  to  pass  "  many  days  without  eat- 
ing, and  nights  without  sleeping."  This  copy 
is  now  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris, 
and  is  made  invaluable  by  containing  the 
autographs  of  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio. 
Boccaccio  made  himself  the  defender  of  Pe- 
trarch's fame,  answering  with  vehement  wrath 
the  critics  who  attacked  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  Petrarch  was  never 
weary  of  bestowing  substantial  favors  on 
Boccaccio.  When  the  latter  was  in  need,  as 
often  happened,  his  friend  forced  money 
upon  him.  He  urged  him  again  and  again 
to  share  his  home  and  his  fortune.  "  I  can- 
not make  you  rich,"  he  said,  "  but  I  have 
plenty  for  two  who  have  only  one  heart  and 
live  under  one  roof."  "  Why  do  you  talk 
to  me  of  debt  ?  "  he  writes  again.  "  You 
owe  me  nothing  but  love,  and  that  you  have 
already  paid  in  advance." 

Boccaccio   visited    Petrarch   at    Milan,    at 


BOCCACCIO.  201 


Padua,  and  at  Venice,  sometimes  remaining 
his  guest  for  months  at  a  time.  It  was 
owing  to  Petrarch's  influence  that  he  began 
the  study  of  Greek,  and  labored  for  its  revi- 
val in  Italy.  Petrarch  had  himself  attempted 
to  learn  the  language  some  years  earlier,  but 
had  been  deprived  of  his  teacher  before  he 
had  made  more  than  a  beginning.  This  did 
not  abate  his  zeal,  and  he  never  ceased  to 
regret  that  "  Homer  was  mute  to  him,  while 
he  was  deaf  to  Homer."  He  now  urged  Boc- 
caccio to  seize  the  opportunity  that  had 
escaped  him ;  and  he  aided  him  in  securing 
the  services  of  Leontius  Pilatus,  a  Greek 
scholar,  who  happened  to  be  in  Venice  dur- 
ing one  of  Boccaccio's  visits  to  Petrarch. 

Boccaccio  persuaded  the  Greek  to  accom- 
pany him  to  Florence,  and  there  obtained 
for  him  a  professorship  in  the  university,  — 
thus  securing  for  himself  the  advantage  of 
instruction,  and  for  his  native  city,  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  first  in  Western  Europe 


202  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

to  found  a  chair  of  Greek,  after  centuries  of 
neglect.  The  novelist's  zeal  for  the  study  may 
be  judged  from  the  fact  that  he  kept  this 
eccentric  professor  in  his  home  for  nearly 
three  years,  although  a  more  forbidding 
guest  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  "  Dirty, 
unkempt,  and  overbearing,  in  fact  this  Leone 
is  in  all  respects  a  perfect  brute,"  says  Pe- 
trarch. They  however  obtained  through  him 
what  they  had  so  long  desired,  —  a  Latin 
translation  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey. 
This  was  the  first  complete  Latin  version  of 
the  poems  of  Homer,  and  Petrarch's  copy  of 
it  is  still  in  existence.  It  is  one  of  the  manu- 
scripts recently  discovered  in  the  Paris  Na- 
tional Library  by  M.  de  Nolhac,  bearing 
marginal  notes  in  Petrarch's  handwriting, 
and,  as  was  customary  with  him,  an  account 
of  its  acquisition.  "  Written  at  home,  begun 
at  Padua,  finished  at  Pavia,  illuminated  and 
bound  at  Milan  in  1369." 

Disagreeable  as  he  was,  they  would  gladly 


BOCCACCIO.  203 


have  retained  their  Greek  professor;  but  he 
soon  became  tired  of  Florence.  Having  ac- 
companied Boccaccio  to  Venice  on  a  visit 
to  Petrarch,  he  asked  leave  to  remain  there 
for  a  time,  promising  soon  to  return  to  Flor- 
ence. Instead,  came  a  letter  from  Petrarch, 
announcing  that  the  bird  had  flown.  He 
had  made  every  effort  to  detain  him,  but 
found  him  deaf  and  immovable,  and  finally, 
"  for  fear  his  temper  might  prove  conta- 
gious," was  obliged  to  let  him  depart.  "  He 
left  me  with  many  sallies  of  bitter  invec- 
tive against  Italy  and  everything  Latin ;  but 
scarcely  has  he  reached  his  destination  than 
I  get  from  him  a  letter  longer  and  pricklier 
than  his  beard,  in  which  he  praises  Italy 
and  curses  Constantinople,  which  he  used 
to  laud  to  the  skies.  He  also  asks  me  for 
an  invitation  to  come  back  to  Italy  with 
more  fervor  than  that  with  which  the  drown- 
ing Peter  prayed  for  his  rescue  from  the 
waves;     But  he  will  never  have  a  letter  from 


204  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

me  to  call  him  back  again.  Let  him  stay  where 
he  wanted  to  go,  and  live  in  misery  where 
he  went  with  insolence."  x  The  unfortunate 
Greek  attempted,  however,  to  return  to  Italy, 
but  perished  in  a  storm  on  the  journey. 

Petrarch  was  enabled  by  his  sound  judg- 
ment to  render  Boccaccio  another  signal 
service,  —  one  which  proved  to  be  also  a 
service  to  posterity.  In  1363,  while  Boccac- 
cio was  still  busily  engaged  in  the  study  of 
Greek  under  Leontino,  he  received  a  visit 
from  a  Carthusian  monk,  who  professed  to 
bring  him  a  supernatural  message.  A  holy 
brother  named  Petronius,  who  had  died  re- 
cently in  Siena,  had  been  granted  on  his 
deathbed  a  vision  of  Christ  and  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  He  had  commissioned  his  brother 
monk  to  carry  a  message,  first  to  Boccaccio, 
then  to  other  scholars  of  Naples,  France,  and 
England,  and  finally  to  Petrarch.  Boccaccio 
was  warned  that  he  must  at  once  reform  his 
1  Let.  Sen.,  Hi.  6 


BOCCACCIO.  205 


morals,  cease  to  pervert  his  talents  by  writ- 
ing of  love,  and  above  all,  abandon  the 
study  of  poetry  and  profane  letters,  and  de- 
vote the  remnant  of  his  life  to  prayer  and 
repentance.  Should  he  disregard  this  warn- 
ing, he  would  have  but  few  years  here  and 
eternal  punishment  hereafter.  The  monk 
strengthened  his  authority,  after  the  manner 
of  modern  seers,  by  repeating  to  Boccaccio 
a  secret  which  the  latter  believed  to  be 
known  to  none  but  himself. 

Boccaccio  had  a  strong  vein  of  superstition 
in  his  nature,  and  was  greatly  awed  and  terri- 
fied by  the  monk's  communication.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  it  was  at  this  time  he  adopted  the 
habit  of  a  monk.  At  any  rate  he  resolved 
to  change  the  tenor  of  his  life,  to  renounce 
the  muses  and  the  classics,  and  to  sell  his 
books  in  order  to  remove  temptation.  He 
wrote  to  Petrarch  announcing  his  resolution, 
and  offering  him  the  refusal  of  his  library  at 
his  own  price. 


206  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH, 

Petrarch,  who  despised  astrology,  quack- 
ery, and  deception  of  every  kind,  was  not 
likely  to  be  taken  in  by  a  piece  of  monkish 
jugglery.  His  sound  sense  at  once  rejected 
the  whole  affair  as  an  imposture.  "  It  is  a 
wonderful  thing,"  he  said,  "  for  human  eyes 
to  have  seen  Christ,  —  that  is,  if  it  be  true ; 
but  it  is  no  new  thing  for  folly  and  false- 
hood to  be  covered  with  the  veil  of  religion, 
and  under  the  cloak  of  divinity  to  conceal 
human  fraud.  When  I  have  seen  this  mes- 
senger of  the  dead,  I  can  judge  how  much 
credit  should  be  given  to  his  words.  We 
are  moved  and  disturbed  by  something  un- 
usual and  strange,  and  despise  what  is  well 
known.  What !  Did  you  not  know  without 
this  monk  that  life  is  short?  Any  child 
could  tell  you  that;  saints  and  philoso- 
phers teach  you  the  same.  Of  the  advice, 
take  what  is  good,  —  throw  away  worldly 
cares  and  reform  your  life  and  mind;  but 
do  not  abandon   your  studies.     Believe  me, 


BOCCACCIO.  207 


many  things  are  born  of  idleness  and  igno- 
rance that  are  attributed  to  prudence  and 
wisdom.  Neither  the  love  of  virtue  nor  the 
thought  of  death  need  turn  you  from  the 
study  of  letters,  the  natural  food  of  a  healthy 
mind,  although  distasteful  and  nauseous  to 
the  weak.  Many,  it  is  true,  have  reached  a 
high  degree  of  sanctity  without  learning,  but 
learning  never  hindered  any  one  from  be- 
coming holy.  There  are  many  roads  that 
lead  to  heaven,  but  ignorance  is  the  only 
one  for  the  idle.  Show  me  the  greatest 
saint  you  can  find  ignorant  of  letters,  and  I 
will  show  you  a  scholar  still  more  holy." x 
He  adds,  however,  that  if  Boccaccio  is  firmly 
resolved  to  abandon  his  studies  and  to  sell 
his  books,  he  is  willing  to  buy  them,  "  being 
always  greedy  of  books,  and  unwilling  that 
the  library  of  such  a  man  should  pass  into 
profane  hands."  He  hopes  their  united  li- 
braries may  be  placed  where  they  will  pre- 

1  Let.  Sen.,  i.  4. 


208  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

serve  their  memory  after  death.  He  closes 
by  repeating  his  urgent  invitation  to  Boc- 
caccio to  share  his  home  and  have  the  use 
of  his  books.  "  You  do  me  wrong  if  you 
deny  me,  and  a  still  greater  wrong  if  you 
do  not  believe  me." 

Boccaccio  was  convinced  by  the  reasoning 
of  his  friend,  and  returned  to  his  studies. 

In  view  of  the  intimacy  existing  between 
them,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  Pe- 
trarch could  so  long  have  remained  ignorant 
of  the  work  upon  which  Boccaccio's  fame 
chiefly  rests;  but  it  is  true  that  the  De- 
cameron only  came  into  his  hands  in  the 
last  year  of  his  life.  The  fact  is  a  startling 
reminder  of  the  limited  circulation  of  books 
before  the  invention  of  printing.  Either  the 
modesty  of  Boccaccio,  or  his  fear  of  Pe- 
trarch's disapproval,  prevented  his  making 
the  work  known  to  the  one  whose  opinion 
he  respected  more  than  any  one's  else  in 
the  world. 


BOCCACCIO.  209 


Petrarch  found  much  in  the  Decameron 
to  admire,  particularly  the  description  of 
the  plague  in  Florence,  with  which  the  work 
opens.  "  I  am  astonished,"  he  said,  "  at  the 
mastery  with  which  you  have  painted  this 
terrible  scourge  of  our  land."  He  was  will- 
ing to  overlook  the  freedom  and  licentious- 
ness of  some  of  the  tales  "  on  account  of 
the  youth  of  the  author,  the  language  in 
which  they  were  written,  and  the  audience 
for  whom  they  were  composed."  The  beau- 
tiful story  of  Griselda  so  charmed  him  that 
he  learned  it  by  heart,  and  repeated  it  to  his 
friends ;  and,  unwilling  to  leave  it  to  so  lim- 
ited an  audience,  and  so  short  a  life  as  it 
would  obtain  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  he  him- 
self translated  it  into  Latin.  The  last  letter 
ever  written  by  Petrarch  was  a  letter  to 
Boccaccio  on  this  subject  of  Griselda. 

In  Petrarch's  gardening  notes,  recently 
brought  to  light  by  M.  de  Nolhac,  is  found 
an  allusion  to  one  of  Boccaccio's  visits, 
14 


2IO  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

which  gives  a  pleasant  picture  of  the  infor- 
mal intercourse  of  the  two  prophets  of  the 
Renaissance.  Petrarch,  who  was  especially 
fond  of  cultivating  the  laurel,  had  received 
from  a  friend  five  specimens,  two  of  a  deli- 
cate character,  and  three  of  a  hardier  variety, 
and  on  Saturday,  the  16th  of  March,  1359, 
was  planting  them.  After  carefully  noting 
down,  as  was  his  wont,  in  his  gardening 
book,  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  soil,  he  adds :  "  It  ought  to  be 
of  great  advantage  to  the  growth  of  these 
sacred  trees  that  that  illustrious  man,  John 
Boccaccio  of  Certaldo,  a  friend  to  the  laurel 
and  to  me,  having  arrived  accidentally  just 
at  this  time,  was  present  at  the  planting." 

As  Petrarch  lost  one  by  one  the  friends 
to  whom  he  was  attached,  he  became  still 
more  dependent  upon  the  friendship  and 
sympathy  of  Boccaccio.  The  latter  begged 
his  master  to  outlive  him,  but  Petrarch  re- 
plied :    "  On    the    contrary,    I    desire    to    die 


BOCCACCIO.  211 


before  you  do,  that  I  may  leave  some  one 
behind  me  in  whose  memory  and  whose 
words  I  may  live,  and  by  whom  I  may  be 
loved  and  regretted."1  He  remembered 
Boccaccio  in  his  will,  leaving  him  fifty  gold 
florins  to  buy  a  winter  cloak  for  his  nightly 
studies,  although  he  was  ashamed,  he  said, 
"to  leave  so  small  a  sum  to  so  great  a  man." 
Boccaccio  was  overwhelmed  with  grief  at 
the  death  of  Petrarch,  and  survived  him  but 
a  few  months.  He  gave  much  time  and  care 
to  preserving  from  destruction  the  manuscript 
of  "  Africa,"  the  great  epic  upon  which  he 
firmly  believed  the  fame  of  Petrarch  would 
rest.  One  of  the  last  things  penned  by 
Boccaccio  was  the  sonnet  beginning, — 

"  Now  hast  thou  left  me,  Master  dear." 

1  Let.  Sen.,  xvi.  2. 


212  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

VENICE. 

THRIVEN  from  Milan  in  1361  by  war  and 
"^^^  pestilence,  Petrarch  could  not  at  once 
decide  upon  another  home.  His  first  refuge 
was  Padua,  where  he  was  sure  of  a  hearty 
welcome  from  the  lord  of  the  city,  Fran- 
cesco Carrara,  —  son  of  that  James  Carrara 
whom  Petrarch  had  so  dearly  loved,  and  who 
had  bestowed  a  canonicate  upon  him.  The 
poet  had  received  urgent  and  repeated  invita- 
tions from  the  Seneschal  of  Naples,  the  King 
of  France,  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 
These  invitations  were  accompanied  with 
splendid  gifts  and  brilliant  promises.  "  I  can- 
not understand,"  he  says,  "  why  these  warlike 
princes  take  so  much  pains  for  a  poor  clergy- 
man, already  middle-aged."  The  Pope  also 
desired  his  presence  at  Avignon.      Innocent 


VENICE.  213 


VI.,  who  but  a  short  time  before  had  regarded 
him  as  a  magician  on  account  of  his  familiarity 
with  Virgil,  had  so  far  forgotten  his  prejudice 
that  he  had  twice  proffered  him  the  office  of 
Papal  secretary,  and  after  his  refusal  had  con- 
ferred upon  him  two  benefices^ 

Notwithstanding  the  many  flattering  offers 
he  received,  Petrarch  felt  no  inclination  to 
become  the  guest  of  a  foreign  court.  He 
was  weary  however  of  the  intestine  wars  of 
Italy,  and  decided  to  return  to  his  solitude 
of  Vaucluse.  Hardly  had  he  begun  the 
journey  when  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  it. 
The  war  between  the  lord  of  Milan  and  his 
neighbors  had  filled  that  part  of  the  country 
with  bands  of  foreign  mercenaries,  who  made 
all  roads  to  France  unsafe  for  travellers. 

Petrarch  then  decided  to  obey  the  oft- 
repeated  summons  of  the  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, but  found  the  roads  to  the  north 
equally  impassable  from  the  presence  of 
condottiere.      Not    only    was    he    unable    to 


214  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

continue  his  journey,  but  the  return  was  cut 
off;  and  he  could  only  take  refuge  in  Venice. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Italy  that  Petrarch  was 
thus  prevented  from  crossing  her  boundaries, 
to  end  his  days  in  a  foreign  land.  It  was 
also  fortunate  for  Humanism ;  for  no  other 
soil  was  so  well  prepared  as  that  of  Italy  to 
receive  the  seed  which  he  was  constantly 
sowing  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life, 
—  the  years  of  his  most  zealous  activity  in 
humanistic  studies. 

A  few  months  later  we  find  Petrarch  again 
at  Padua ;  but  the  plague  having  reached  that 
city,  his  friends  urged  him  to  flee.  Although 
Petrarch  replied  philosophically  that  it  was 
not  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to  fear  death,  and 
that  it  was  folly  to  flee  from  it,  he  yielded  to 
their  entreaties  and  returned  to  Venice. 

The  city  of  the  lagoons  now  seemed  to  the 
poet  the  most  delightful  harbor  he  could  find  ; 
and  he  planned  to  remain  there  as  the  guest 
of  the  Republic,  and  to  bequeath  to  St.  Mark's 


VENICE.  215 


his  valuable  collection  of  manuscripts  as  a 
nucleus  for  a  public  library.  At  the  sugges- 
tion of  his  friend  the  chancellor,  Benintendi, 
he  submitted  to  the  Senate  a  proposition  to 
donate  to  the  city  such  books  as  he  had,  and 
those  which  he  might  possess  in  the  future, 
on  condition  that  they  should  not  be  sold  or 
dispersed  in  any  manner,  but  should  be  kept 
in  a  safe  place,  in  his  name,  for  the  use  of 
the  scholars  and  nobles  of  the  city.  He 
adds  the  hope  that  the  city  may  enlarge  the 
collection,  and  that  other  citizens  may  follow 
his  example,  so  that  a  great  and  famous 
library  may  grow  up  like  those  of  the  an- 
cients. He  desires  in  the  mean  time,  for 
himself  and  for  the  said  books,  a  house  "  not 
large,  but  decent."  The  Senate  accepted  the 
offer  in  barbarous  Latin,  which  must  have 
grated  on  the  ear  of  Petrarch :  — 

"  Having  considered  how  much  to  the  praise  of 
God  and  of  Saint  Mark,  and  to  the  honor  and  fame 
of  our  city,  is  the  offer  of  Signor  Francis  Petrarch, 


2l6  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

—  whose  fame  to-day  is  such  in  the  whole  world, 
that  within  the  memory  of  man  there  has  never  been 
among  Christians  a  moral  philosopher  or  poet  who 
could  be  compared  to  him,  —  we  therefore  accept 
the  offer,  written  with  his  own  hand.  We  will  pro- 
vide during  his  lifetime  a  suitable  home,  and  the 
proctors  of  St.  Mark's  will  arrange  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  his  books." 

Having  accepted  his  offer,  the  Senate  as- 
signed to  Petrarch  the  "  palace  of  the  two 
towers  "  on  the  Riva  degli  Schiavoni,  looking 
out  over  the  sea ;  and  here  in  1362  he  came 
to  reside,  bringing  with  him  his  daughter  and 
his  son-in-law.  His  residence  however  was  not 
uninterrupted,  for  it  was  his  habit  to  pass  the 
Lenten  season  and  Easter  in  Padua,  fulfilling 
the  duties  of  his  canonry;  the  summer  in 
Pavia  as  the  guest  of  Galeazzo  Visconti ;  and 
the  remainder  of  the  year  in  Venice. 

Pleased  with  the  "  vast  palace  which  this 
free  and  liberal  city  had  conceded  to  him  for 
a  dwelling,"  fascinated  by  the  unaccustomed 
view  of  the  sea,  and  by  the  "elect  friends" 


VENICE.  217 


whose  acquaintance  he  had  made,  Petrarch 
could  not  say  enough  in  praise  of  Venice. 
"  This  city  is,  in  our  day,  the  only  home  of 
justice,  peace,  and  liberty,"  he  writes  to 
Pietro  da  Bologna,  "  the  only  refuge  for  the 
good,  and  the  only  harbor  for  those  who  seek 
to  lead  a  quiet  life  after  being  beaten  about 
by  war  and  tyranny.  A  city  rich  in  gold, 
but  richer  in  fame;  powerful  in  arms,  but 
more  powerful  in  virtue ;  built  on  solid  foun- 
dations of  marble,  but  also  upon  the  still 
more  solid  base  of  civil  concord ;  girdled  by 
the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  better  still  by  the 
counsels  of  the  wise."1 

In  his  letters  Petrarch  has  given  many  de- 
lightful glimpses  of  Venetian  life  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  To  Boccaccio  he  writes, 
urging  him  to  repeat  his  visit  to  Venice, 
"  You  will  find  such  company  that  I  do  not 
believe  you  could  desire  better.  The  chan- 
cellor  of   this   noble    city,    after   giving  the 

1  Let.  Sen.,  iv.  3. 


218  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

whole  day  to  public  affairs,  comes  at  even- 
ing with  joyful  and  friendly  mien,  in  his 
gondola,  to  refresh  himself  with  familiar  con- 
versation. And  you  know  by  experience 
how  charming  and  delightful  are  those  noc- 
turnal rambles  upon  the  water,  and  how 
sincere  and  agreeable  those  conversations." 
What  more  pleasing  picture  can  we  find  than 
that  of  the  gray-haired  poet  and  the  portly, 
good-humored  story-teller,  both  in  the  even- 
ing of  life,  gliding  in  their  gondolas  by 
moonlight  over  the  quiet  waters  of  the  la- 
goons, talking  not  of  Laura  or  of  Fiammetta, 
but  discussing  with  the  learned  chancellor 
and  other  friends,  questions  of  philosophy, 
politics,  and  literature? 

At  another  time  Petrarch  shows  us  Venice 
in  gala  dress,  celebrating  a  victory  gained 
over  Crete.  From  his  window  looking  out 
over  the  sea,  he  beheld  the  approach  of  the 
victorious  galley,  covered  with  banners  and 
green   branches,  and   the   people   streaming 


VENICE.  219 

to  the  mole  from  all  parts  of  the  city  to  hear 
the  glorious  tidings.  The  public  rejoicings 
lasted  many  days,  consisting  of  solemn 
thanksgivings  in  the  church  of  St.  Mark's, 
a  magnificent  procession  in  which  the  people 
and  the  clergy  took  part,  and  finally  feastings, 
races,  and  a  tournament  in  the  grand  piazza, 
"  before  the  golden  facade  of  the  temple." 

Petrarch's  description  of  the  equestrian 
feats  proves  that  horses  were  much  better 
known  in  Venice  at  that  day  than  at  present. 
"Four  and  twenty  noble  Venetian  youths, 
beautiful  in  person,  and  richly  clothed,  took 
part,  managing  their  coursers  so  that  they 
looked  like  angels  flying  rather  than  men 
riding.  It  was  a  fine  sight  to  see  so  many 
young  men  decked  in  purple  and  gold,  rul- 
ing their  horses  with  the  rein  and  urging 
them  with  the  spur,  the  steeds  also  in  glit- 
tering harness,  and  with  iron-shod  feet,  which 
seemed  scarcely  to  touch  the  ground." 1 
!Let.  Sen.,  iv.  3. 


220  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

From  the  marble  gallery  of  St.  Mark's, 
shaded  by  rich  and  gayly  colored  awnings, 
in  front  of  the  four  bronze  horses,  which 
almost  seemed  to  stamp  and  neigh,  the  doge, 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  magnates  and 
nobles,  witnessed  the  proceedings;  and  at 
his  right  hand,  as  the  guest  whom  he  de- 
lighted to  honor,  sat  Petrarch.  The  piazza 
below  was  so  crowded  with  spectators  that 
a  grain  of  barley  could  not  have  fallen  to  the 
ground.  The  church,  the  towers,  the  roofs, 
the  arcades,  the  windows,  were  running  over, 
walled  and  paved  with  people,  piled  upon 
each  other.  A  little  to  the  right  was  a 
wooden  platform  upon  which  were  seated 
four  hundred  of  the  most  elect  ladies,  —  the 
flower  of  the  nobility,  distinguished  for  their 
beauty  and  their  rich  attire,  —  forming  an 
image  of  a  celestial  banquet.  There  were 
also  present  a  number  of  English  noblemen, 
relatives  of  the  king. 

From   his    post   of   honor   at    the    doge's 


VENICE.  221 

right  hand,  the  gray-haired  poet  watched 
the  gorgeous  spectacle  for  two  days;  but 
upon  the  third  day  he  excused  himself,  al- 
leging his  many  occupations,  "  known  to 
every  one." 

It  was  in  Venice  that  Petrarch  received 
into  his  family  as  a  pupil  the  young  scholar 
from  Ravenna  to  whom  he  became  so  warmly 
attached.  The  young  man  had  some  genius, 
was  an  enthusiastic  student,  and  a  reverent 
admirer  of  Petrarch.  The  poet  employed 
him  as  copyist  and  secretary,  and  gave  him 
in  return  instruction  in  humanistic  studies 
as  well  as  encouragement  and  inspiration. 
Petrarch  soon  learned  to  love  him  as  a  son, 
"  yes,  better  than  a  son,"  he  said ;  "  for  the 
sons  of  the  present  day  try  to  govern  their 
fathers,  while  this  young  man  only  strives 
to  obey  me.  He  devotes  himself,  not  to 
his  own  pleasure,  but  to  my  work ;  and  this 
not  through  ambition  or  from  any  hope  of 
reward,  but   because  he   loves  me,  and   be- 


222  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

lieves   he  will   be   better  for  the  association 
with  me."1 

Great  was  Petrarch's  surprise  and  grief 
when  the  youth  decided  four  years  later  to 
leave  Venice,  in  order  to  travel  through 
Italy  and  to  find  an  opportunity  of  study- 
ing Greek.  The  poet  sought  to  detain 
him,  but  finally  yielded,  giving  him  money 
for  his  travelling  expenses.  When,  after 
many  unpleasant  adventures,  he  returned 
a  few  months  later  to  again  beg  shelter  un- 
der his  patron's  roof,  Petrarch  received  him 
with  open  arms.  He  soon  became  dis- 
contented a  second  time,  and  departed  for 
Rome,  and  from  that  time  disappeared  en- 
tirely out  of  Petrarch's  life.  Nothing  further 
is  known  of  his  fate.  Efforts  have  been  made 
to  identify  him  with  Giovanni  Malpaghini, 
who  was  so  prominent  in  humanistic  studies 
in  the  beginning  of  the  next  century,  but  the 
proof  is  insufficient. 

1  Ep.  Fam.,  xxiii.  19. 


VENICE.  223 


Petrarch's  honored  and  peaceful  life  in 
Venice  had  one  drawback,  —  the  prevalence 
of  infidelity.  Much  as  he  might  inveigh 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  Papal  court, 
never  hesitating  to  rebuke  popes  and  car- 
dinals, —  describing  one  pontiff  as  a  drunkard, 
another  as  a  profligate,  and  a  third  as  a  fool,  — 
he  did  not  once  allow  his  indignation  and 
scorn  against  the  representatives  of  the 
Church  to  extend  to  the  Church  itself.  Lib- 
eral and  modern  as  he  was  in  many  of  his 
opinions,  he  nevertheless  maintained  a  firm 
belief  in  the  tenets  of  the  Church,  and  re- 
mained a  devout  Catholic,  rising  at  mid- 
night to  engage  in  prayer,  and  observing 
the  various  fast-days  so  rigidly  as  to  injure 
his  health.  As  he  grew  older  he  became 
still  more  orthodox,  and  more  intolerant  of 
free-thinkers.  It  was  a  great  grief  to  him 
therefore  to  find  Venice  filled  with  Averro- 
ism,  which  was  just  then  the  fashionable 
form  of  infidelity.     His  long  feud  with  the 


224  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

physicians  indeed,  was  largely  a  fight  against 
the  teachings  of  Averroes. 

There  were  in  Venice  many  wise  young 
men  who  made  Aristotle  their  divinity  (al- 
though they  knew  nothing  of  him  except 
through  the  corrupt  version  of  Averroes), 
and  who  took  pride  in  scoffing  at  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church.  A  number  of  these 
young  philosophers  were  among  Petrarch's 
friends  and  acquaintances,  and  his  patience 
was  often  sorely  tried  by  them.  Upon  one 
occasion  he  lost  his  patience  entirely,  when 
a  young  man  who  visited  him  made  a  con- 
temptuous comparison  between  Saint  Paul 
and  the  Arabian  philosopher.  "  I  could 
hardly  keep  my  hands  off  him/'  he  says. 
" '  It  is  an  old  story  to  me/  I  said  to 
him,  'this  discussion  with  heretics  like  you. 
Now  go  to  the  Evil  One  with  your  heresy, 
and  come  here  no  more, ' —  and  taking  him 
by  the  cloak  with  less  courtesy  than  is 
customary  with  me,  but    not   less   than   his 


VENICE.  22  5 


manners   deserved,    I   put   him   out    of    my 
house."1 

Naturally,  with  such  positive  opinions  and 
such  a  forcible  manner  of  expressing  them, 
Petrarch  came  to  be  as  much  an  object  of 
dislike  to  the  Averroists  as  they  to  him; 
and  he  was  frequently  involved  in  unpleas- 
ant discussions  with  them.  Four  young 
Venetians,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they 
were  friends  of  the  poet,  in  the  habit  of 
visiting  him,  and  always  kindly  received  by 
him,  did  not  hesitate,  in  the  insolence  of 
youth,  to  cast  ridicule  upon  him.  They 
held  a  mock  trial  to  decide  whether  this 
man,  whom  all  the  world  had  agreed  to 
honor,  was  worthy  of  the  fame  which  he 
had  acquired ;  and  after  pretending  to  weigh 
the  evidence  on  both  sides,  they  rendered 
a  formal  verdict  to  the  effect  that  Petrarch 
was  "  a  good  man,  but  ignorant." 

At   this    distance    we    are    surprised    that 
1  Let.  Sen.,  v.  2. 
*5 


226  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch,  secure  in  his  proud  position,  should 
have  been  seriously  disturbed  by  such  a 
trifle,  or  that  he  should  have  thought  the 
impertinence  worthy  of  a  reply.  That  both 
he  and  his  friends  did  regard  it  seriously, 
however,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Boccac- 
cio wrote  a  scathing  reproof  to  the  young 
men,  and  that  Petrarch's  admirers  insisted 
upon  his  defending  himself.  The  result 
was  his  treatise  "  Upon  his  own  Ignorance 
and  that  of  many  Others,"  in  which  he 
pours  upon  the  four  young  Venetians  all 
the  satire  and  invective  at  his  command, 
though  without  once  mentioning  them  by 
name,  because  he  "wishes  to  render  them 
neither  famous  nor  infamous." 

This  affair  made  Venice  so  distasteful  to 
Petrarch  that  in  1367,  after  passing  the 
summer  in  Pavia,  instead  of  returning  as 
usual  to  Venice,  he  passed  the  winter  in 
Padua,  and  from  that  time  dwelt  no  more 
in  the  "  palace  of  the  two  towers." 


VENICE.  227 


If  the  generally  received  account  be  a 
true  one,  the  library  which  Petrarch  had 
collected  with  so  much  labor  and  expense, 
and  which  he  had  bequeathed  to  the  patron 
saint  of  the  Republic  in  the  hope  that  it 
would  form  the  nucleus  of  a  great  public 
library,  met  with  a  curious  fate.  The  tra- 
dition is  that  at  his  death  the  books  were 
consigned  to  the  proctors  of  the  church  of 
St.  Mark,  and  placed  in  a  little  room  over 
the  famous  bronze  horses.  Here  they  were 
so  utterly  forgotten  that  when  in  1422  the 
Senate  decided  to  build  a  library,  and  when 
in  1468  the  Republic  came  into  possession 
of  another  valuable  collection  of  manu- 
scripts, no  one  thought  of  removing  the 
library  of  Petrarch  from  its  hiding-place. 
Although  in  1529  a  fine  building  was  erected 
for  the  library  of  St.  Mark's,  and  a  decree 
passed  that  a  copy  of  every  book  published 
in  the  dominion  should  be  presented  to 
this  library,  which  had  become  one  of  the 


228  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

finest  in  Europe,  no  one  remembered  the 
gift  with  which  Petrarch,  with  instincts  far 
in  advance  of  his  age,  had  sought  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  this  very  result. 

In  1634,  two  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  Petrarch,  the  memory  of  this  be- 
quest was  revived  by  two  gentlemen,  one 
of  whom  was  a  Venetian,  the  other  a  Pad- 
uan;  and  through  their  efforts  a  learned 
monk  was  deputed  to  examine  the  manu- 
scripts in  the  room  where  they  had  so  long 
been  buried.  They  were  found  "  almost 
ruined  by  the  dampness,  some  of  them 
nearly  petrified,  others  corroded  and  rotten." 
Nevertheless,  there  were  some  which  were 
not  entirely  destroyed.  But  even  then  no 
steps  were  taken  to  preserve  this  once  val- 
uable collection.  They  were  left  where  they 
were,  to  continue  to  decay;  and  not  until 
1739  were  they  removed  and  added  to  the 
library  of  St.  Mark's. 

Certain    recent    biographers   of    Petrarch 


VENICE.  229 


discredit  this  story,  and  refuse  to  charge 
the  Venetian  Republic  with  such  criminal 
carelessness.  The  bequest,  they  claim,  was 
never  carried  out,  and  only  a  small  part  of 
the  poet's  library  was  left  in  Venice.  In 
the  paper  which  he  presented  to  the  Senate, 
Petrarch  proposed  to  give  them  not  only 
the  books  which  he  owned,  but  also  those 
which  he  might  possess  in  future.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  this  part  of  the  design  was  never 
fulfilled,  and  that  the  books  which  he  had 
with  him  when  he  died  were  not  sent  to 
Venice,  but  fell  into  different  hands,  and 
are  still  preserved  in  the  libraries  of  Flor- 
ence, Paris,  Rome,  and  Milan. 

Many  of  these  books  are  of  great  value 
on  account  of  the  copious  marginal  notes 
which  Petrarch  was  in  the  habit  of  adding 
to  every  work  he  read.  It  is  fortunate  for 
the  world,  therefore,  that  the  entire  library 
was  not  buried  in  the  little  room  assigned 
to  its  use  by  the  proctors  of  St.  Mark's. 


230  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PADUA  AND  ARQUA. 

A  FALSE  report  of  Petrarch's  death  in 
1365  had  deprived  him  of  one  of  the 
livings  in  his  possession  as  well  as  of  the 
canonry  of  Carpentras,  which  the  Pope  had 
promised  him.  The  canonry  of  Padua  was 
therefore  the  most  important  benefice  he  now 
possessed.  After  leaving  Venice,  Padua  be- 
came his  natural  home,  both  on  account  of 
his  canonry  and  of  his  warm  affection  for  the 
lord  of  Padua,  Francesco  di  Carrara,  whose 
father  had  first  persuaded  Petrarch  to  remove 
to  Italy  twenty  years  before. 

There  are  many  passages  in  the  letters  of 
Petrarch  showing  the  beautiful  relation  exist- 
ing between  the  aged  poet  and  the  young 
prince.     The   attitude    of  the   latter   toward 


PADUA    AND  ARQUA.  23 1 

Petrarch  was  that  of  an  affectionate  son 
toward  a  father;  and  he  treated  the  poet  to 
the  end  of  his  life  with  the  most  tender 
respect,  visiting  him  often  in  his  own  home, 
meeting  him  at  the  city  gates  on  his  return 
from  his  journeys,  and  showing  in  many  ways 
the  honor  and  esteem  in  which  he  held  him. 
He  complained  frequently  that  Petrarch  had 
written  something  for  every  friend  except 
himself,  and  begged  for  some  writing  which 
should  be  his  alone. 

In  answer  to  this  request  Petrarch  wrote  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  to  his  patron  a  treatise 
on  government,  entitled,  "  What  he  should  be 
who  governs  his  Country."  The  first  duty 
of  a  prince,  he  says,  is  to  make  himself 
loved  instead  of  feared.  He  praises  the 
modesty  of  Francesco  in  signing  his  name 
simply,  without  any  title,  and  in  mingling 
freely  with  his  people.  He  makes  some 
practical  suggestions  for  the  immediate  im- 
provement   of    Padua    which    one    would 


232  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH, 

scarcely  expect  to  find  in  a  treatise  of  this 
kind,  and  which  give  curious  glimpses  of 
customs  then  prevailing.  He  urges,  for 
instance,  the  abolition  of  the  custom  of  allow- 
ing everybody's  pigs  to  roam  at  will  through 
the  streets  of  the  city,  frightening  the  horses 
and  disgusting  the  passers-by.  He  advises 
the  draining  of  the  swamps  around  Padua,  and 
is  willing  to  contribute  for  this  purpose  from 
his  own  purse.  He  begs  the  prince  to  do 
away  with  the  ridiculous  custom  then  com- 
mon in  Padua  of  allowing  a  train  of  women 
to  follow  a  funeral  procession  through  the 
streets,  "  howling,  groaning,  and  wailing  in 
such  a  manner  that  a  stranger  would  take 
them  for  maniacs,  or  would  think  the  city 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy."  "  Do  not 
think  these  are  little  things,"  he  adds,  "  and 
beneath  your  dignity.  It  is  the  duty  of  a 
prince  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  his  people 
in  small  things  as  well  as  in  great." 

About  the  time    of  Petrarch's   departure 


PADUA    AND  ARQUA.  233 

from  Venice  he  was  made  happy  by  the  ful- 
filment of  one  of  his  fondest  dreams,  —  the 
return  of  the  Papal  court  to  Rome.  He  re- 
garded Rome  not  only  as  the  legitimate  seat 
of  the  empire,  but  also  as  the  rightful  home 
of  the  Church.  "  So  long  as  Rome  remains 
deprived  of  both  her  chiefs,"  he  said,  "  human 
affairs  can  never  go  right,  nor  can  the  Chris- 
tian republic  enjoy  peace.  If  either  of  them 
return,  all  will  go  well ;  if  both,  perfectly  and 
in  the  fulness  of  glory  and  prosperity."1 

The  absence  of  the  Papal  court  from  Italy, 
and  its  disgraceful  subjection  to  France,  had 
been  a  life-long  grief  to  Petrarch  and  the 
cause  of  his  intense  hatred  of  Avignon.  He 
had  addressed  to  each  successive  pontiff 
earnest  letters  of  entreaty  upon  the  subject ; 
and  on  the  election  of  Urban  V.  he  com- 
posed another  burning  appeal,  longer,  more 
eloquent,  more  urgent  than  any  of  the  others. 
When  we  remember  how  much  his  material 

1  Let.  Sen.,  vii.  1. 


234  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

interests  depended  upon  the  good-will  of 
the  Pontiff  we  are  surprised  at  the  boldness  of 
his  language :  "  The  life  of  man  is  short,  that 
of  popes  especially  so.  Think  then,  what  you 
will  say  when  you  appear  before  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Christ,  where  you  stand  not  as  a 
master  and  we  as  servants,  but  he  alone  as 
master  and  you  a  servant  like  ourselves. 
What  answer  will  you  give  to  these  words? 
'  Poor  and  humble,  I  raised  you  from  the 
ground,  not  only  as  the  equal  of  princes  but 
above  them,  making  them  bow  reverently 
at  thy  feet.  Where,  then,  is  the  church  I 
committed  to  thy  care?  What  return  hast 
thou  made  me  for  the  gifts  lavished  upon 
thee?  Thou  hast  kept  on  the  rock  of  Avig- 
non the  seat  placed  by  my  hand  upon  the 
capitol.  And  why?  Didst  thou  think  that 
I  perhaps  had  made  a  mistake  in  choosing 
Rome  as  the  head  of  the  world  ?  !  "  l 

In  1367,  the  Pope  took  the  decisive  step  of 
1  Let.  Sen.,  vii.  1. 


PADUA   AND  ARQUA.  235 

restoring  the  court  to  Rome,  to  the  wrath 
and  indignation  of  his  cardinals,  but  to  the 
unspeakable  joy  of  Petrarch,  who  hastened 
to  send  him  a  letter  of  congratulation,  re- 
peating his  praises  of  Italy  and  his  dis- 
paragement of  France.  The  Pope  greatly 
desired  the  presence  of  Petrarch  in  Rome ; 
and  the  latter  was  also  eager  to  witness  what 
he  considered  the  triumph  of  the  Holy  City, 
but  was  obliged  to  defer  the  pleasure  on 
account  of  his  health. 

At  last,  in  1370,  after  receiving  another 
invitation,  written  by  the  Pontiff's  own  hand, 
the  poet  decided  to  undertake  the  journey, 
having  first  made  his  will.  In  this  document 
he  again  shows  his  affection  for  the  family 
of  Carrara  by  the  request  that  if  he  should 
die  in  Padua  he  might  be  buried  in  the 
chapel  where  the  body  of  Giacomo  di  Carrara 
rested.  He  also  bequeathed  to  Francesco  di 
Carrara  a  picture  of  the  Virgin,  "the  work 
of   that    distinguished   painter    Giotto,    the 


236  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

beauties  of  which  are  not  recognized  by 
the  ignorant  but  excite  the  wonder  of 
masters  of  the  art/' 

The  journey,  however,  proved  too  much  for 
Petrarch's  strength.  Arrived  at  Ferrara  he 
fell  into  a  fainting-fit  and  remained  for 
several  hours  so  apparently  lifeless  that  the 
report  of  his  death  was  spread  to  Padua, 
Milan,  and  elsewhere.  The  lords  of  Ferrara 
took  him  to  their  own  house,  and  through 
their  care  and  attention  he  was  restored  to 
life.  Utterly  unable  to  continue  his  jour- 
ney, he  was  placed  in  a  boat  and  carried 
back  to  Padua,  where  he  was  received  by 
prince  and  people  with  joy  and  wonder  as  one 
risen  from  the  dead.  Warned  by  a  previous 
experience,  he  sent  to  the  Pontiff  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  affair,  lest  the  false  report  of  his 
death  should  deprive  him  of  the  benefices 
which  were  left  to  him. 

The  interruption  of  his  journey  was  a 
serious    disappointment;   but   had    Petrarch 


PADUA   AND  ARQUA.  237 

succeeded  in  reaching  Rome,  he  would  have 
been  still  more  seriously  disappointed. 
Pope  Urban  V.  was  already  becoming  dis- 
satisfied with  his  new  home,  and  in  Septem- 
ber of  the  same  year,  yielding  to  the 
entreaties  of  his  cardinals  he  returned  to 
Avignon.  Petrarch's  grief  and  indignation 
were  immeasurable,  and  were  expressed,  ac- 
cording to  his  custom,  in  a  letter,  in  which 
he  overwhelmed  the  sick  and  aged  pontiff  with 
reproaches  for  his  cowardice.  The  letter 
was  never  read  by  the  man  for  whom  it  was 
intended,  for  the  unhappy  Urban  V.  died 
in  Avignon  three  months  after  his  return. 

After  the  failure  of  his  journey  to  Rome, 
Petrarch  withdrew  to  the  village  of  Arqua, 
"  to  pass  in  peace  the  little  that  remained  of 
life,"  in  the  hope  of  recovering  his  health, 
and  of  leading  a  more  quiet  existence  than 
was  possible  in  noisy  Padua.  Nothing  now 
remained  to  him,  he  said,  "  but  to  desire  and 
to  consider  how  to  make  a  good  end.     Hav- 


238  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

ing  weighed  the  matter  carefully,  I  have  de- 
cided to  turn  my  back  upon  every  project, 
every  desire  for  great  things,  and  to  be  sat- 
isfied to  live  in  mediocrity  and  in  solitude. 
.  .  .  Here  among  the  Euganean  hills,"  he 
continues,  "■  not  too  far  from  my  church,  — 
not  more  than  ten  miles  from  Padua,  —  I 
have  built  me  a  house,  small,  but  pleasant, 
surrounded  by  olives  and  vines,  sufficient 
for  a  family  not  large  or  imprudent;  and 
here  I  live,  infirm  in  body  but  tranquil  in 
mind,  away  from  excitements,  distractions, 
and  cares,  reading  and  writing  always,  and 
rendering  praise  and  thanks  to  God  for  the 
evil  that  he  sends  as  well  as  the  good,  — 
which  evil  I  believe  to  be  not  so  much  for 
a  punishment  as  for  a  trial  of  my  resigna- 
tion. And  above  all  I  pray  Christ  to  grant 
me  a  good  end,  to  be  generous  in  pardon 
and  mercy,  and  to  forget  the  sins  of  my 
youth.  Wherefore  no  words  are  so  sweet 
to  me  as  those  of  the  psalmist,  '  Remember 


PADUA   AND  ARQUA.  239 

not,  O  Lord,  the  faults  and  errors  of  my 
youth.'  ...  I  have  here  a  goodly  number 
of  friends,  and  more  than  elsewhere,  because 
those  which  I  had  in  a  thousand  other  places 
have  been  torn  from  me  by  death,  —  a  mis- 
fortune inevitable  to  one  who  is  growing  old. 
Add  that  the  lord  of  this  country  —  a  very 
wise  man  —  bears  himself  toward  me  not  as  a 
prince,  but  as  a  loving  and  reverent  son,  both 
from  his  own  natural  courtesy  and  through 
respect  to  the  memory  of  his  father,  who 
loved  me  as  a  brother.  I  neither  abound  in 
wealth  nor  suffer  from  poverty,  —  a  fate 
which  seems  to  me  the  best  of  all,  and  which 
makes  me  regard  as  the  greatest  of  treasures 
the  art  of  being  content  with  what  I  have 
and  desiring  nothing  more.  If  I  look  around 
me,  I  find  scarcely  a  man  anywhere  with 
whom  I  would  wish  to  change  places."  * 

Of  his  financial  condition  and  mode  of  life, 
the  poet  says :   "  If  I  should  say  that  I  had 

1  Let.  Sen  ,  xv.  5. 


240  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

not  enough  for  a  canon  to  live  on  comfort- 
ably, I  should  speak  falsely.  But  this  I  can 
say  truthfully,  that  I  have  more  company 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  chapter  together. 
Nor  do  I  know  how  to  make  it  less.  There- 
fore I  often  find  myself  in  domestic  straits 
which  are  perhaps  honorable  but  burden- 
some. I  possess  here  a  prebend  which 
yields  me  bread  and  wine,  not  only  for  my 
own  use,  but  to  sell.  I  could  have  much 
more  if  I  should  reside  at  my  benefice ;  but 
I  shun  cities  as  I  would  prisons,  and  I  would 
rather  suffer  hunger  in  the  solitude  of  the 
fields  than  to  live  in  abundance  and  luxury 
in  the  city.  Yet  there  is  no  retreat  so  soli- 
tary that  it  will  protect  me  from  the  impor- 
tunity of  visitors.  I  have  many  servants,  — 
would  to  God  I  could  live  without  any,  but 
this  I  cannot  do  because  I  am  old  and  fee- 
ble. I  never  have  less  than  two  horses.  Of 
copyists  I  have  usually  four  or  five.  If  I 
have  only  three  now,  it  is  because  it  is  very 


PADUA   AND   ARQUA.  241 

difficult  to  find  good  ones,  although  illumi- 
nators are  less  rare.  My  companion  is  an 
old  priest,  who  always  goes  with  me  to  the 
church ;  but  it  is  a  rare  thing  for  him  to  be 
alone  with  me  at  table.  Often  just  at  the 
dinner  hour  we  see  a  crowd  of  guests  arriv- 
ing, hungry  for  food  and  conversation.  Nor 
can  I  bar  my  door  against  them  without 
seeming  more  penurious  or  more  proud  than 
I  really  am."  x 

Many  of  these  visitors  were  drawn  thither 
by  their  admiration  of  Petrarch's  writings, 
others  merely  by  curiosity  to  see  a  man 
with  a  world-wide  reputation.  "  There  is  no 
corner  retired  enough,"  he  says  elsewhere, 
"  no  shadows  are  heavy  enough,  to  protect 
me  from  the  honorable  but  painful  burden 
of  visits." 

Petrarch's  health  had  been  greatly  shattered 
by  repeated  attacks  of  his  "  familiar  enemy," 
—  the  tertian  fever.  He  was  also  subject  to 
1  Ep.  Var.,  15. 

16 


242  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

prolonged  fainting-fits,  which  had  all  the 
appearance  of  death.  In  his  letters  from 
Arqua  he  complains  frequently  of  illness 
and  declining  strength,  but  he  refused  all 
medical  aid,  and  laughed  at  the  advice  of 
physicians.  Soon  after  his  removal  to  Arqua 
he  was  visited  by  a  severe  attack  of  illness 
which  the  physicians,  called  in  by  his  friends, 
agreed  in  pronouncing  fatal.  He  would  die 
before  midnight,  they  said,  although  if  he 
could  be  kept  from  falling  asleep  by  bind- 
ing his  limbs,  he  might  possibly  live  until 
daylight.  Petrarch,  in  his  contempt  for  their 
knowledge,  refused  to  be  kept  awake.  He 
fell  into  a  long  and  refreshing  slumber,  and 
when  the  physicians  returned  in  the  morn- 
ing they  were  amazed  to  see  their  patient 
sitting  at  his  table  writing  as  if  nothing  had 
happened.  They  pronounced  his  recovery 
a  miracle,  and  the  poet's  opinion  of  their  wis- 
dom was  not  heightened  by  the  incident. 
In  spite  of  his  growing  feebleness,  Petrarch 


PADUA    AND  ARQUA.  243 

devoted  himself  to  study  as  zealously  as  ever. 
"  To  read,  to  write,  to  think,"  he  says,  "  are 
now,  as  they  were  in  my  youth,  my  dearest 
pleasures.  I  am  astonished  that  having  stud- 
ied so  constantly  for  so  many  years,  I  have 
learned  so  little."  He  begrudged  even  the 
needful  time  for  rest.  "  Time  enough  for 
sleep  when  we  are  underground,"  he  said. 
It  was  his  habit  in  his  old  age  to  have  a  pen 
attached  to  his  ear  at  night,  so  that  in  case 
a  thought  occurred  to  him  in  bed  he  could 
write  it  down  in  the  dark. 

To  Boccaccio,  who  urged  moderation  in 
these  occupations,  he  writes :  "  Work  and 
study  are  the  food  of  my  mind.  When  I 
begin  to  rest  and  to  slow  up,  I  shall  soon 
cease  to  live.  I  know  my  own  strength;  I 
am  not  fit  for  other  labors.  Reading  and 
writing,  which  you  command  me  to  leave 
off,  are  hardly  labor  to  me ;  they  are  rather 
a  sweet  repose  which  makes  me  oblivious 
of  heavier   cares.  .  .  .  There   is   no  burden 


244  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

lighter  or  more  agreeable  than  a  pen.  .  .  . 
Of  all  earthly  pleasures,"  he  adds,  "  there  is 
none  more  genuine  than  letters ;  none  more 
durable,  none  more  pleasant  or  more  faith- 
ful, none  which  gives  its  possessor  so  little 
trouble  or  weariness."  1  At  Arqua  he  revised 
his  "  Triumph  of  Death,"  completed  the  trea- 
tise "  On  his  own  Ignorance,  and  that  of 
many  Others,"  and  wrote  another  prose  work, 
equally  characteristic. 

A  certain  Frenchman,  indignant  at  Pe- 
trarch's slurs  against  France  in  his  letters 
to  Urban  V.,  had  written  an  abusive  reply 
in  which  he  defended  his  own  country  and 
disparaged  Italy.  The  work  did  not  fall 
into  Petrarch's  hands  until  after  his  removal 
to  Arqua,  when  he  wrote  his  "  Answer  to 
the  Slanders  of  an  Anonymous  Gaul,"  in 
which  he  gives  forcibly  and  amusingly  his 
opinion  of  the  French,  and  describes  their 
characteristics. 

1  Let.  Sen.,  xvii.  2. 


PADUA   AND  ARQUA.  245 

The  poet's  studies  were  interrupted  by  a 
war  which  broke  out  between  Padua  and 
Venice,  and  which  obliged  him  to  take  ref- 
uge in  Padua.  He  considered  himself  fortu- 
nate to  have  removed  from  Venice  before  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  "  for  there  I  should 
have  been  always  suspected,"  he  says,  "  and 
here  I  am  sure  of  affection."  A  zealous  ad- 
mirer urged  him  to  write  his  name  over  the 
portal  of  his  home  as  a  protection  against 
the  hostile  troops,  but  Petrarch  did  not  con- 
sider the  advice  practical.  "  Mars  was  never 
a  friend  to  scholars,"  he  said.  The  war  was 
finally  ended  upon  terms  very  humiliating 
to  Padua.  Among  other  conditions  the  lord 
of  Carrara  was  obliged  to  go  in  person  to 
Venice,  or  send  his  son,  to  sue  for  pardon 
from  the  council.  The  prince  requested  Pe- 
trarch to  accompany  his  son  upon  this  hu- 
miliating mission ;  and  although  travelling 
had  now  become  a  burden  to  him,  he  could 
not  well  refuse.     After  his  Venetian  journey 


246  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


he  returned  to  his  vine-clad  hill  at  Arqua, 
and  resumed  for  a  few  months  his  life  of 
study. 

Of  the  death  of  Petrarch  his  contempora- 
ries give  conflicting  accounts.  Villani  nar- 
rates that  he  died  in  the  arms  of  Lombardo 
da  Serico  (the  friend  and  companion  of  his 
old  age),  and  that  as  the  breath  left  his 
body  a  white  cloud  ascended  to  the  ceiling 
of  the  room,  tarried  a  while,  and  disap- 
peared, — "  thus  proving,"  adds  the  writer, 
"  that  the  soul  of  Petrarch  was  dear  to  God, 
because  he  received  it  with  so  visible  a  mira- 
cle on  its  passage  from  its  earthly  prison  to 
the  stars."  According  to  another  contem- 
porary writer,  when  his  family  entered  the 
library  in  the  morning  they  found  the  aged 
poet  seated  at  his  desk  as  usual,  with  his 
head  bent  over  a  book  in  so  natural  an  atti- 
tude that  they  could  not  at  first  realize  that 
life  had  departed.  Whether  he  died  in  the 
arms  of  his  friend  or  breathed  his  last  over 


PADUA   AND  ARQUA.  247 

the  pages  of  one  of  his  beloved  books,  he 
verified  his  own  prophecy  that  when  he 
ceased  to  study  he  should  cease  to  live,  —  a 
fitting  close  for  a  life  devoted  so  entirely  to 
the  cause  of  learning.  He  died  on  the  19th 
of  July,  1374,  one  day  before  the  seventieth 
anniversary  of  his  birth. 

Petrarch  had  requested  in  his  will  that 
there  should  be  no  unseemly  pomp  at  his 
burial,  and  above  all  that  there  should  be 
no  weeping  or  contortion  of  faces.  "  Such 
things  do  no  good  to  the  dead,"  he  said, 
"  and  are  very  injurious  to  the  living." 
Nevertheless  he  was  buried  with  great  honor, 
—  Francesco  di  Carrara  and  the  bishops  of 
Padua,  Verona,  and  Vicenza  taking  part  in 
the  ceremonies,  while  his  bier  was  borne  by 
sixteen  doctors  of  law. 

He  had  long  desired  to  build  a  chapel  in 
honor  of  the  Virgin,  and  to  be  buried  in  it, 
but  had  not  been  able  to  carry  out  his  in- 
tention; and  his  body  was  therefore  placed 


248  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

in  the  village  church.  Six  years  later  it 
was  removed  to  the  marble  mausoleum 
built  for  it  in  front  of  the  church  by  his 
son-in-law.     Boccaccio   said :  — 

"  I  envy  Arqua  the  privilege  ^f  guarding  the 
ashes  of  such  a  man.  That  villagefnitherto  scarcely- 
known  to  Padua,  will  henceforth  be  famous  through- 
out the  world  as  the  burial-place  of  Petrarch." 


PETRARCH'S  LETTERS.  249 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PETRARCH'S   LETTERS. 

TT  is  rare  indeed  to  find  in  regard  to  any 
man  such  a  wealth  of  material  of  an  au- 
tobiographical nature  as  exists  in  the  case  of 
Petrarch,  rarer  still  that  it  should  have  been 
preserved  through  the  centuries.  Of  the 
letters  of  Dante  only  eleven  are  in  existence, 
and  even  of  this  number  some  are  of  doubt- 
ful authenticity;  while  from  Petrarch,  who 
lived  only  a  generation  later,  we  have  nearly 
six  hundred  authentic  letters,  written  to  men 
of  every  rank  in  life  and  of  every  degree  of 
intimacy. 

It  has  been  said  of  Petrarch's  letters  that 
they  are  formal  treatises  on  various  subjects 
rather  than  familiar  correspondence  with  his 
friends ;  and  it  is  true  that  some  of  them  seem 


250  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

to  be  written  for  effect,  and  with  a  conscious- 
ness of  other  readers  than  the  ones  to  whom 
they  are  addressed.  But  when  he  is  not  pos- 
ing, nothing  can  exceed  the  charm  of  his 
letters ;  and  so  far  as  style  is  concerned,  they 
might  have  been  written  yesterday.  In  read- 
ing the  easy,  familiar  chatter  concerning  his 
friends,  his  surroundings,  and  his  occupa- 
tions, one  forgets  that  the  writer  lived  five 
hundred  years  ago,  and  that  he  wrote  in  what 
was  even  then  a  dead  language. 

His  habit  of  letter- writing  was  another  of 
the  traits  which  separates  Petrarch  from  the 
mediaeval  period  and  proves  his  relation  to 
the  modern  world,  with  its  necessity  for  the 
expression  of  individuality  and  its  craving 
for  sympathy.  So  great  were  the  difficulties 
of  correspondence  at  that  day,  that  had  he 
not  been  a  born  letter-writer,  he  would 
scarcely  have  overcome  them.  There  were 
no  facilities  for  the  exchange  of  letters. 
They  could  be  sent  only  by  special  couriers, 


PETRARCH'S  LETTERS.  25 1 

by  travelling  merchants,  wandering  monks, 
or  by  friends  who  happened  to  be  journeying 
in  the  right  direction.  Several  weeks  some- 
times elapsed  between  the  writing  of  a  letter 
and  the  receipt  of  it.  Nor  was  there  any  cer- 
tainty of  a  safe  delivery.  Petrarch's  couriers 
were  often  stopped  on  the  way,  and  detained 
while  the  treasures  they  carried  were  copied, 
—  the  original  document  being  sometimes  lost 
in  the  process.  His  contemporaries  placed 
so  high  a  value  upon  his  letters  that  they 
were  passed  from  hand  to  hand  to  be  read 
and  copied.  Strangers  wrote  to  him  begging 
for  a  letter  which  they  might  keep  as  a  treas- 
ure. Others  desired  the  honor  of  being 
mentioned  in  a  letter,  that  their  names  might 
be  transmitted  to  posterity  in  connection 
with  his. 

That  Petrarch  himself  had  no  mean  opinion 
of  his  letters  is  shown  by  his  habit  of  keeping 
a  copy  of  each  one  written  by  him.  Many 
made  collections  of  them  during  his  lifetime, 


252  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

procuring  copies  in  every  conceivable  way; 
and  in  less  than  a  month  after  his  death  Pope 
Gregory  XI.  was  making  efforts  to  obtain 
copies  of  as  many  as  possible.  During  the 
next  ten  years  they  were  very  popular,  and 
were  widely  copied  and  circulated.  In  the 
fifteenth  century  they  fell  into  neglect,  the 
elegant  Latinity  cultivated  by  the  men  of 
the  Renaissance  making  them  dissatisfied 
with  Petrarch's  style. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  the  present  century 
the  editions  of  the  letters  were  so  incomplete, 
corrupt,  and  full  of  errors,  as  to  render  them 
almost  unreadable.  Fracassetti,  an  Italian 
scholar  who  had  devoted  years  of  study  to 
the  subject,  earned  the  gratitude  of  all  admir- 
ers of  the  poet,  —  first,  by  a  corrected  Latin 
edition  of  the  " Familiar  Letters"  and  the 
"Miscellaneous;"  and,  later,  by  an  Italian 
translation  of  the  same,  with  copious  notes  and 
explanations.  In  1868  followed  his  Italian 
translation  of  the  "  Senile  Letters,"  edited  with 


PETRARCH'S  LETTERS.  253 

the  same  thoroughness.  These  editions  con- 
tain many  letters  never  before  published,  and 
cover  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years,  —  begin- 
ning with  1326  and  ending  with  the  poet's 
death  in  1374.  But  the  collections  by  no 
means  include  all  the  letters  written  by  him 
during  that  period. 

In  1359  Petrarch  concluded  to  arrange  his 
writings  and  to  review  his  past  life  by  reading 
over  the  letters  and  poems  belonging  to  dif- 
ferent periods.  His  manuscripts  were  in 
great  disorder,  covered  with  dust,  and  the 
prey  of  mice,  moths,  and  spiders.  Finding 
the  task  of  arranging  greater  than  he  antici- 
pated, he  disposed  of  many  pieces  by  throw- 
ing them  into  the  fire,  "  sacrificing  to  Vulcan," 
he  says,  "  more  than  a  thousand  letters  and 
poems,  though  not,  I  confess,  without  a 
sigh."  Before  the  work  of  destruction  was 
completed  he  remembered  a  promise  he  had 
made  to  collect  his  letters  and  dedicate  them 
to  two  of  his  friends.     Seeing  in  one  corner 


254  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

a  little  pile  which  had  by  chance  escaped 
the  flames,  he  reserved  these  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  "  Metrical  Epistles  "  were  gathered 
into  one  volume,  and  dedicated  to  Barbato 
of  Sulmona.  The  prose  letters  he  arranged 
chronologically,  dividing  them  into  twenty- 
four  books,  and  dedicating  the  whole  to  his 
friend  Socrates,  under  the  title  De  Familiari- 
bus  Rebus,  or  "  Letters  on  Familiar  Things." 
"  The  title  I  have  given  them,"  he  says, 
"  seems  to  describe  them.  They  are  natu- 
ral, familiar  narrations  of  daily  events,  writ- 
ten in  a  simple  style,  and  interspersed  with 
some  moral  reflections  after  the  manner  of 
Cicero."  He  completed  the  first  revision 
in  two  years,  concluding  the  volume  with 
another  letter  to  Socrates.  The  twenty- 
fourth  book  contains  his  letters  to  Cicero, 
Virgil,  Livy,  Horace,  Homer,  and  other  an- 
cient writers,  in  which  he  addresses  them  as 
personal  friends,  expressing  his  admiration 
and  affection  for  them,  and  at  the  same  time 


PETRARCH'S  LETTERS.  255 

freely  criticising  their  faults.  A  number  of 
letters  still  remaining  which  were  difficult  to 
classify,  and  for  which  he  could  find  no  room 
in  the  "  Familiar  Letters,"  he  gathered  them 
into  a  separate  volume  of  "  Miscellaneous 
Letters,"  —  Avulsce  extra  ordinem. 

Foreseeing  that  while  life  lasted  he  would 
continue  to  write  letters,  Petrarch  resolved 
to  arrange  such  as  he  should  write  thereafter 
in  a  new  collection,  to  be  called  "  Senile  Let- 
ters," or  the  "  Letters  of  Old  Age,"  and  to 
be  dedicated  to  his  friend  Simonides.  The 
"  Senile  Letters  "  contain  much  that  is  auto- 
biographical, being  filled  with  reminiscences 
of  his  youth  and  with  details  of  his  manner 
of  life  in  his  last  years. 

There  is  still  another  collection  of  letters 
written  by  Petrarch  called  the  "  Anepigrafe," 
or  "  Letters  without  a  Title,"  —  a  collection 
of  a  very  different  character  from  the  others. 
It  contains  the  most  bitter  invectives  against 
the  Papal  court,  and  the  most  startling  pict- 


256  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

ures  of  its  corruption.  These  letters  were 
called  forth  by  his  hatred  of  the  Avignonese 
usurpation,  his  zeal  for  Rome  as  the  rightful 
home  of  the  Church,  and  his  disgust  at  the 
immorality  of  the  clergy.  They  were  writ- 
ten to  his  most  intimate  friends,  and  in  order 
that  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  sent 
might  not  be  compromised,  they  were  left 
without  an  address.  He  allowed  no  one  to 
make  copies  of  them,  and  often  requested 
the  recipients  to  return  them  as  soon  as 
read.  These  letters  were  not  made  public 
during  his  lifetime,  and  Fracassetti  has  not 
included  them  in  his  collections,  for  the  rea- 
son that  their  lack  of  dignity  renders  them 
unworthy  of  the  writer. 

The  most  interesting  of  all  the  letters  of 
Petrarch  is  the  remarkable  fragment  of  auto- 
biography entitled  a  "Letter  to  Posterity." 
In  it  he  attempts  to  give  an  account  of  his 
own  life,  —  "  a  thing,"  he  says,  "  which  no 
one,  I   believe,  has   done   before  me."     He 


PETRARCH'S  LETTERS.  257 

gives  also  an  amusingly  impartial  estimate  of 
his  own  character,  with  a  description  of  his 
disposition  and  personal  appearance.  "  Per- 
haps," he  says  na'fvely  to  his  future  readers, 
"  you  may  have  heard  somewhat  of  me, 
doubtful  though  it  be  whether  a  name  so 
humble  and  obscure  as  mine  can  travel  far 
either  in  time  or  space.  Perhaps  you  may 
even  desire  to  know  what  manner  of  man  I 
am,  and  what  was  the  fate  of  my  works,  es- 
pecially those  of  which  the  name  and  fame 
have  reached  you." 

The  "  Letter  to  Posterity  "  was  written  in 
the  poet's  last  years,  since  it  mentions  the 
death  of  Pope  Urban  V.,  which  occurred  in 
1370.  It  ends  abruptly,  and  was  evidently 
left  unfinished,  the  account  of  his  life  being 
brought  down  only  to  his  return  to  Vaucluse, 
in  135 1.  It  is  probable  that  the  writing  was 
interrupted  by  his  death. 

Useful  as  are  the  letters  of  Petrarch  for 
the  understanding  of  his  life,  they  are  of 
17 


258  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

almost  equal  importance  for  the  study  of 
civilization,  discussing  as  they  do  every  ques- 
tion, —  religious,  political,  and  philosophical, 
—  with  which  the  minds  of  men  were  occu- 
pied during  the  fourteenth  century. 


LATIN  WORKS.  259 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

LATIN  WORKS. 

TN  the  estimation  of  Petrarch  and  of  his 
contemporaries,  his  title  to  fame  rested 
chiefly  on  his  Latin  writings.  Of  these  the 
most  important  was  the  epic  poem  "  Africa," 
which  won  him  renown  in  his  lifetime,  and 
which  he  hoped  would  win  him  immortality. 
When  we  remember  that  only  a  few  brief 
fragments  of  the  poem  were  made  public 
while  Petrarch  lived,  we  are  surprised  at  the 
confidence  and  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the 
fact  that  he  was  engaged  upon  an  epic  poem 
with  a  classical  subject.  Without  knowing 
a  line  of  it,  the  literary  world  was  ready,  on 
the  strength  of  his  reputation,  to  pronounce 
it  a  masterpiece,  worthy  to  be  ranked  with 
the  works  of  Homer  and  Virgil.  Petrarch 
himself,  although  he  had  at  first  high  hopes 


260  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

of  it,  came  to  value  it  far  less  in  later  life, 
and  was  even  ashamed,  it  is  said,  to  hear  it 
spoken  of.  He  recognized  its  faults  so 
plainly  that  he  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  pub- 
lished ;  but  after  his  death  his  friends  hastened 
to  obtain  copies  of  it,  and  to  give  it  to  the 
world. 

The  poem  celebrates  in  nine  books  the 
deeds  of  Petrarch's  favorite  hero,  —  Scipio 
Africanus.  v  It  contains  over  six  thousand 
lines,  in  all  of  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Walter  Savage  Landor,  "  there  is  probably 
no  sentence  or  image  worth  remembering." 
"  I  cannot  well  believe,"  he  adds,  "  that  any 
man  living  has  read  beyond  five  hundred 
lines  of  '  Africa;  '  I  myself,  in  sundry  expe- 
ditions, have  penetrated  about  thus  far  into 
its  immeasurable  sea  of  sand."  Koerting, 
on  the  other  hand,  finds  passages  of  great 
beauty,  though  he  pronounces  the  epic, 
considered  as  a  whole,  a  failure. 

Petrarch  was  essentially  a  lyric  and  not  an 


LATIN  WORKS.  26l 

epic  poet  There  are  other  reasons,  however, 
for  the  failure  of  "  Africa."  A  dead  language 
is  not  the  proper  medium  for  an  epic,  nor 
is  a  hero  who  has  been  dead  fifteen  hundred 
years  a  fit  subject  to  inspire  the  epic  muse. 

Petrarch's  other  poetical  works  in  Latin 
are  the  twelve  "  Eclogues  "  and  sixty  "  Metri- 
cal Epistles "  addressed  to  his  friends  and 
acquaintances.  The  "  Eclogues "  are  so 
buried  in  allegory  as  to  render  them  in- 
comprehensible, even  to  his  contemporaries, 
without  a  commentary.  The  "  Metrical 
Epistles,"  however,  have  much  of  the  grace 
and  brightness  of  his  "  Familiar  Letters,"  with 
something  of  the  poetic  charm  of  the  "  Can- 
zoniere."  They  have  also  a  personal  interest 
from  their  many  details  concerning  the 
poet's  life  and  habits. 

Petrarch's  numerous  prose  writings,  —  phi- 
losophical, religious,  polemic,  and  historical, 
—  are  all  in  Latin.  He  left  not  a  line  in  Italian 
prose.      Of  these   writings,   the   one   which 


262  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

Petrarch  himself  valued  most  highly,  placing 
it  next  to  his  "  Africa,"  was  the  "  Book  of 
Famous  Men."  This  work  was  never  com- 
pleted according  to  his  original  plan,  al- 
though it  was  a  labor  of  love,  and  he  worked 
upon  it  for  many  years.  It  contains  thirty- 
one  biographies  of  distinguished  heroes  and 
statesmen,  all,  with  the  exception  of  three, 
belonging  to  ancient  Rome. 

Another  important  result  of  Petrarch's 
unremitting  historical  study  was  the  "  Book 
of  Memorable  Events," —  a  collection  of 
anecdotes  or  narratives  of  remarkable  events 
in  history,  including  striking  traits,  words,  and 
deeds  of  famous  men  of  history.  This,  like 
the  other,  was  never  finished,  although  the 
author  kept  it  by  him  for  years.  It  was  de- 
signed to  have  an  encyclopedic  character, 
and  to  contain  material  from  the  history  "  of 
all  nations  and  of  all  ages."  Only  four 
books  were  completed.  These  are  divided 
into     chapters     on     "  Prudence,"     "  Skill," 


LATIN  WORKS.  263 

"  Memory,"  "  Learning,"  etc.,  and  the  chap- 
ters again  are  arranged  under  the  heads, 
"  Romans,"  "  Foreigners,"  and  "  Moderns ;  " 
but  the  **  Romans  "  as  usual  predominate. 
Several  chapters  are  devoted  to  belief  in 
dreams,  signs,  and  omens  ;  and  he  humorously 
endeavors  to  show  the  folly  of  such  credulity. 

The  striking  feature  of  Petrarch's  histori- 
cal works  is  the  zeal  with  which  they  were 
written.  It  was  at  that  day  a  novel  thing 
to  examine  and  compare  sources,  and  to  at- 
tempt to  present  historical  facts  in  an  inter- 
esting and  attractive  manner. 

Of  Petrarch's  philosophical  writings  the 
most  curious  is,  "  On  the  Remedy  for  either 
Extreme  of  Fortune."  This  was  written 
for  his  friend  Azzo  di  Correggio,  who  had 
experienced  every  vicissitude  of  fortune ;  and 
it  was  intended  to  console  him  with  the 
thought  that  happiness  and  unhappiness  have 
no  existence,  the  one  being  merely  a  delu- 
sion, the  other  a  discipline.     In  a  pessimistic 


264  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

introduction  he  complains  that  life  is  difficult 
and  wearisome  because  man  cannot,  like 
other  animals,  remain  ignorant  of  his  fate. 
Every  being  gifted  with  reason  must  struggle 
always  with  a  three-headed  Cerberus,  —  weari- 
ness of  the  present,  memory  of  the  past, 
and  anxiety  for  the  future.  Philosophy  is 
the  only  safeguard  against  fortune  or  mis- 
fortune, the  former  being  more  dangerous 
and  harder  to  bear  than  the  latter. 

The  work  is  in  two  parts,  the  first  contain- 
ing one  hundred  and  twenty-two,  the  second 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  dialogues,  each 
piece  of  good  or  ill  fortune  being  treated 
separately.  In  the  first  division,  Hope  and 
Joy  recount  the  conditions  and  circumstances 
of  life  which  are  considered  fortunate,  while 
Reason  coldly  points  out  the  fallacy  of 
such  views.  In  the  second  part,  Pain  and 
Sorrow  present  the  miseries  of  life,  and 
Reason  again  responds,  showing  that  every 
so-called  misfortune    has  its   compensations. 


LATIN  WORKS.  265 

Health,  strength,  beauty,  and  long  life  are 
pronounced  worthless.  Even  spiritual  gifts 
have  no  value  in  themselves.  Freedom  is 
an  uncertain  possession,  for  there  is  no  real 
freedom  except  in  the  grave.  Nobility  of 
birth  is  not  a  blessing,  for  true  nobility  can- 
not be  inherited,  it  comes  only  from  one's 
own  deeds.  The  enjoyment  of  art  and  learn- 
ing is  a  delusion.  Marriage  is  not  even  a 
doubtful  good,  it  is  an  unmitigated  evil.  It 
is  curious  to  find  this  ideal  lover,  who  has 
passed  all  his  life  writing  sonnets  in  praise 
of  a  woman,  railing  against  love  and  marriage 
like  the  veriest  woman-hater.  Strife  and  con- 
tention always  come  with  a  wife,  he  says,  es- 
pecially if  she  be  rich  and  of  good  family. 
If  she  be  beautiful,  so  much  the  worse. 
Children  are  not  an  unmixed  blessing,  they 
occasion  too  much  anxiety.  You  have  al- 
ways the  fear  that  they  may  die  or  may 
turn  out  badly.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ills 
of  life  are  not  so  dark  as  they  have   been 


266  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

painted.  The  various  diseases  of  the  body 
are  mentioned  from  tooth-ache  to  the  plague, 
and  some  compensation  found  for  each.  So 
with  the  inconveniences  of  life ;  nothing  is 
so  bad  but  that  it  might  be  worse.  Real 
sorrows  are  treated  in  the  same  way.  The 
loss  of  a  wife  is  easily  borne,  —  it  restores 
you  to  freedom.  He  has  no  words  with 
which  to  characterize  the  folly  of  the  man 
who  contracts  a  second  marriage  after  hav- 
ing been  released  by  Providence  from  the 
first.  The  loss  of  children  relieves  you  from 
a  burden  of  care.  In  short,  there  is  no  such 
thing  in  the  world  as  unalloyed  happiness, 
nor  is  there  any  misfortune  that  cannot  be 
borne  with  the  aid  of  philosophy. 

This  singular  work  retained  its  popularity 
for  a  long  time.  In  the  sixteenth  century  it  was 
translated  into  nearly  every  European  tongue. 
An  English  translation  was  published  in  1579 
under  the  title  "  Phisicke  against  Fortune, 
as  well  prosperous  as  adverse." 


LATIN  WORKS.  267 

In  the  treatise  "  On  a  Solitary  Life," 
Petrarch  portrays  the  pleasures  and  advan- 
tages of  the  solitude  that  he  loved.  The  con- 
trast which  he  draws  between  the  cares, 
absorptions,  and  temptations  of  the  busy  city- 
man  and  the  quiet,  happy,  virtuous  life  of 
the  countryman  is  amusingly  unfair.  The 
countryman  is  by  far  too  perfect,  and  the 
citizen  of  the  town  too  much  of  a  villain  to 
represent  human  nature.  The  solitude  which 
Petrarch  advocates  is  not  the  ascetic  solitude 
of  the  cloister  or  the  hermit's  cell,  but  a 
busy  life  of  study  under  the  influence  of 
beautiful  surroundings,  —  not  the  mortifica- 
tion of  self,  but  the  development  of  self. 
Like  all  of  Petrarch's  writings,  the  work 
is  full  of  examples  and  illustrations  drawn 
from  the  pagan  authors  and  the  Christian 
Fathers. 

The  controversial  writings  of  Petrarch  have 
already  been  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the   events   out   of  which   they  grew.     The 


268  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

"  Answer  to  the  Slanders  of  an  Anonymous 
Gaul "  is  a  eulogy  of  Italy,  and  an  arraign- 
ment of  France  and  the  French.  The 
"  Books  of  Invective  against  a  Physician " 
were  the  result  of  the  poet's  quarrel  with  the 
physicians  of  Avignon,  and  are  the  most 
undignified  and  the  least  interesting  of  his 
prose  writings.  The  treatise  "  On  his  own 
Ignorance  and  that  of  many  Others  "  was  a 
reply  to  the  four  young  Venetians  who  pro- 
nounced Petrarch  u  a  good  man,  but  ig- 
norant." It  is  not  that  he  questions  the 
verdict,  he  says,  but  the  fitness  of  the  judges. 
With  an  air  of  humility  he  concedes  his  own 
ignorance,  "  for  the  longer  one  studies,  the 
more  one  realizes  how  little  he  knows."  He 
recounts  the  various  cities  in  which  he  has 
studied,  and  the  honors  he  has  received  from 
kings  and  princes.  He  mentions  a  number 
of  the  great  men  of  antiquity  who  have  been, 
pursued  by  envy,  and  shows  that  the  present 
attack  was  inspired  by  the  same  motive, — 


LATIN   WORKS,  269 

envy  of  his  fame.  The  real  cause  of  the 
verdict,  he  says,  is  the  fact  of  his  being  a 
Christian ;  for  these  worshippers  of  Aristotle 
go  so  far  as  to  claim  that  faith  and  learning 
are  irreconcilable.  He  himself  admires 
Aristotle,  but  will  not  consent  to  be  a  blind 
follower  of  any  man ;  and  he  has  gained 
their  ill-will  by  daring  to  assert  that  their 
idol  is  not  infallible.  He  draws  a  compari- 
son between  Aristotle  and  his  master,  Plato, 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  latter. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  of  Petrarch's 
prose  writings  is  the  autobiographical  work 
which  he  called  his  "  Secret  Conflict  of 
Cares,"  known  also  as  the  "  Dialogues  on 
Contempt  of  the  World."  It  is  in  the  form 
of  imaginary  conversations  with  Saint  Au- 
gustine, in  which  the  saint  by  his  searching 
questions  forces  the  poet  into  a  curious  con- 
fession of  his  faults  and  frailties,  rebukes  him 
severely,  and  points  out  the  remedy  for  each 
defect. 


270  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

In  the  first  dialogue  Augustine  shows  that 
virtue  and  vice  are  the  real  sources  of  happi- 
ness and  unhappiness,  and  that  no  man  can 
be  either  happy  or  miserable  except  through 
his  own  deeds.  Any  man,  he  says,  can  up- 
lift himself  from  a  state  of  misery  by  a  reso- 
lute effort  of  the  will.  True  happiness  is 
attained  only  by  remembering  the  vanity  of 
all  earthly  things,  and  by  keeping  constantly 
before  the  mind  the  thought  of  death  and  of 
the  life  beyond. 

In  the  second  dialogue  Saint  Augustine 
becomes  more  personal,  and  points  out  to 
Petrarch  his  own  sins  and  weaknesses.  He 
ascribes  to  him,  among  other  things,  greed, 
ambition,  and  a  certain  discontented  melan- 
choly, which  he  calls  acidia.  Petrarch  repels 
the  charge  of  greed.  He  has  always  given 
much  to  his  friends,  and  has  desired  for  him- 
self only  a  u  golden  mean,"  equally  removed 
from  wealth  and  poverty.  He  wishes  to  be 
dependent  upon  no  one,  and  to  make  some 


LATIN  WORKS.  27 1 

provision  for  old  age.  Augustine  shows  him 
that  he  has  long  since  passed  this  golden 
mean,  and  that  if  he  wishes  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  others  he  must  needs  be  a  god. 
All  human  beings  are  dependent  on  one 
another.  As  for  old  age,  it  is  folly  to  neglect 
your  soul  in  order  to  make  provision  for  a 
time  which  may  never  come.  Petrarch  also 
repels  the  charge  of  ambition.  He  has  re- 
fused many  high  positions,  he  says,  because 
of  the  care  and  responsibility  they  carry  with 
them.  But  to  the  charge  of  discontent,  or 
ennui,  he  pleads  guilty,  and  the  conversation 
on  that  topic  is  a  revelation  of  his  character 
and  of  his  inmost  thoughts,  such  as  a  man 
rarely  gives  to  the  world. 

In  the  third  and  last  dialogue  the  subject 
of  Petrarch's  faults  is  continued.  Two  chains, 
says  the  saint,  still  hold  him  down ;  and  in- 
stead of  trying  to  be  free,  he  clings  to  them 
and  loves  them.  The  chains  are  love  and 
fame.     Then  ensues  the  famous  conversation 


2-J2  LIFE    OF  PETRARCH. 

on  Petrarch's  love  for  Laura,  its  nature  and 
its  effect.  The  poet  protests  that  it  is  all 
that  is  pure  and  ennobling;  that  he  has  loved 
her  soul  and  not  her  body ;  that  his  love  is  a 
help  and  not  a  hindrance  to  the  uplifting  of 
his  soul.  By  his  searching  questions  Au- 
gustine forces  the  poet,  step  by  step,  to  the 
confession  that  his  love  has  been  an  injury 
and  not  a  blessing ;  that  he  is  far  less  happy 
than  before  he  knew  Laura;  that  his  love 
was  not  always  pure,  —  that  he  has  loved  the 
body  with  the  soul;  and  that  the  constant 
thought  of  her  has  made  him  forgetful  of 
God  and  neglectful  of  his  fellow-men.  The 
second  chain  which  Augustine  tries  to  break 
is  the  poet's  inordinate  desire  for  fame.  To 
this  charge  also  Petrarch  pleads  guilty.  "  In 
theory  you  despise  the  opinion  of  the  masses," 
says  the  saint,  "  but  in  practice  you  use  every 
effort  to  obtain  their  applause.  To  make 
your  name  immortal  you  neglect  the  im- 
mortality   of  your   soul."      Augustine    con- 


LATIN  WORKS.  273 

demns  the  writing  of  books  as  a  foolish  effort 
to  perpetuate  one's  name,  and  advises  Pe- 
trarch to  abandon  the  "  Africa"  and  the  his- 
tories, and  to  devote  his  time  to  more  serious 
things. 

Each  conversation  is  filled  with  details 
which  reveal  the  poet's  manner  of  thinking 
and  the  peculiar  traits  of  his  character.  The 
book  is  a  curious  psychological  study,  —  the 
picture  of  a  soul.  Petrarch  has  dissected  his 
own  personality  and  examined  every  portion 
of  it  with  the  same  zeal  and  conscientiousness 
with  which  he  pursued  other  studies.  The 
book  was  not  made  public  until  after  his 
death.  It  was  written,  he  says,  for  his  own 
edification  and  admonition  and  not  for  the 
world;  and  he  has  rightly  named  it  his 
"  Secret." 

18 


274  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 


ITALIAN  POEMS. 


ESS  than  five  years  ago  M.  de  Nolhac 
discovered  in  the  Vatican  library  at 
Rome  a  complete  autograph  copy  of  the 
"  Canzoniere."  "  When  we  remember,"  says 
a  writer  in  the  New  York  "  Nation,"  "  that  of 
all  the  compositions  of  Shakspeare,  who  was 
born  nearly  two  hundred  years  after  Petrarch's 
death,  not  a  solitary  autograph  line  is  be- 
lieved to  exist,  we  can  estimate  the  import 
and  surprisingness  of  this  find." 

The  discovery  of  this  manuscript  proves 
many  things.  It  puts  an  end,  in  the  first 
place,  to  all  discussion  in  regard  to  the 
text.  We  have  it  in  the  author's  own  hand, 
with  his  final  corrections  and  emendations. 
It   proves   that    many    of  the    sonnets    and 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  275 

canzoni  discovered  in  other  manuscripts  and 
attributed  to  Petrarch  are  either  not  genuine, 
or  were  not  considered  by  the  poet  worthy  of 
a  place  in  this  collection.  It  proves  also  that 
Petrarch  entitled  the  work  "  Fragments  in  the 
Vulgar  Tongue," — Rerum  vulgarhim  frag- 
menta,  —  showing  that  when  he  speaks  else- 
where of  his  Italian  poems  as  trifles,  it  is  not 
mere  affectation,  but  that  he  really  regarded 
them  as  relaxations  from  the  graver  and 
more  dignified  labors  of  a  scholar,  —  relax- 
ations not  even  worthy  of  mention  in  his 
"  Letter  to  Posterity." 

But  whatever  may  be  said  of  Petrarch's 
labors  as  the  restorer  of  Letters  and  the 
precursor  of  the  Renaissance,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  his  fame  will  always  rest  chiefly 
upon  his  Italian  poems,  and  his  name  will 
always  suggest  the  thought  of  Laura  and 
the  sonnet.  He  did  not  indeed  invent  the 
sonnet,  but  he  was  enabled  to  carry  it  to 
such  a  degree  of  perfection  that  he  became 


2/6  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

the  model  for  all  future  sonneteers  in  every 
land. 

The  "  Canzoniere "  has  probably  passed 
through  more  editions  than  any  other  modern 
classic  in  existence.  In  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  there  were  in  Italy 
alone  more  than  two  hundred  editions,  to 
forty-five  of  the  Divine  Comedy.  The  col- 
lection is  divided  into  three  parts:  the 
"Rime,"  written  in  the  lifetime  of  Laura, 
those  written  after  her  death,  and  the 
"  Triumphs."  The  "  Rime"  consist  of  three 
hundred  and  seventeen  sonnets,  twenty-nine 
canzoni,  nine  sestine,  seven  ballate,  and  four 
madrigals,  nearly  all  on  the  same  theme, — 
his  love  for  Laura,  —  yet  with  such  a  variety  of 
treatment  as  to  prevent  the  subject  becoming 
wearisome.  He  has,  it  is  true,  been  accused 
of  monotony ;  "  but  how  is  it,  then,"  asks 
Leigh  Hunt,  "  that  the  world  has  listened  to 
him  so  long?  A  reign  of  five  hundred  years 
over  the  most  musical  and  poetical  of  coun- 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  277 

tries,  with  all  Europe  for  its  echo,  is  surely 
answer  enough  to  a  charge  of  monotony." 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  the  complaint  of 
uniformity  or  monotony  is  the  fact  that  in- 
stead of  regarding  the  poems  as  separate 
lyrics,  or  songs,  each  complete  in  itself,  we 
too  often  consider  the  collection  as  a  whole. 
"  Laura  herself  might  have  been  surfeited," 
says  Schlegel,  "  had  she  read,  at  one  sitting, 
all  the  stanzas  in  which  Petrarch  immortalized 
her  beauty  and  his  own  passion."  There  is 
no  thread  of  narrative  running  through  the 
poems  to  bind  them  together  and  give  unity 
to  the  collection.  They  deal  rather  with  the 
poet's  own  emotions,  with  the  effect  of  his 
love  and  of  Laura's  beauty,  her  smiles  and 
frowns,  upon  himself.  In  love,  as  in  every- 
thing else,  Petrarch  was  a  psychologist,  "  the 
unwearied  explorer  of  his  own  soul." 

Many  other  faults  are  found  in  Petrarch's 
poems.  Critics  have  called  them  cold,  arti- 
ficial,   "  full    of  extravagant   hyperbole    and 


278  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

of  far-fetched  fanciful  conceits,"  and  to  some 
of  the  poems  all  these  criticisms  are  appli- 
cable. But  after  we  have  discarded  all  that 
offend  against  good  taste  in  this  way,  enough 
of  perfection  still  remains  to  justify  the  title 
which  has  been  given  him  of  the  Prince  of 
Lyric  Poets. 

The  peculiar  charm  of  Petrarch's  verse  is 
its  exquisite  melody, —  a  charm  which  vanishes 
in  the  translation,  since  no  northern  tongue  is 
capable  of  the  modulations  of  the  Italian. 
The  grace,  the  harmony,  the  artistic  per- 
fection of  his  lyrics  were  the  result  of  care- 
ful labor,  as  is  shown  by  the  marginal  Latin 
corrections  found  on  some  manuscript  sheets 
of  the  "  Canzoniere."  It  was  his  custom 
with  his  Italian  as  well  as  his  Latin  writings, 
to  keep  them  by  him  for  months,  allowing  a 
sonnet  "  to  lie  polishing  in  his  mind  like  a 
pebble  on  the  seashore"  until  his  unerring 
good  taste  was  satisfied  with  the  result. 

The   memoranda    published    by    Foscolo 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  279 

show  something  of  Petrarch's  method  of  com- 
position, and  of  the  painstaking  care  which 
he  thought  it  worth  while  to  bestow  upon  so 
small  a  thing  as  a  single  sonnet.  "  I  began 
this,"  says  Petrarch,  "  by  the  impulse  of  the 
Lord  {Domino  jubente)  10th  September,  at 
the  dawn  of  day,  after  my  morning 
prayers.  ...  I  must  make  these  two  verses 
over  again,  singing  them  (cantando),  and  I 
must  transpose  them;  three  o'clock  A.  M., 
19th  October.  —  I  like  this  (Jwc  placet)  ;  30th 
October,  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  —  No, 
this  does  not  please  me;  20th  of  Decem- 
ber, in  the  evening."  And  in  the  midst  of 
his  corrections,  continues  Foscolo,  he  writes 
on  laying  down  his  pen,  "  I  shall  return  to 
this  again;  I  am  called  to  supper.  .  .  . 
February  18,  toward  noon.  This  is  now 
well ;  however,  look  at  it  again  {vide  tamen 
adhuc)" 

Other  notes  and  corrections  show  that  the 
same  careful  revision  was  applied  to  all  the 


280  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

poems.  "  Consider  this,"  he  says  in  the  midst 
of  one  of  them.  "  I  had  some  thoughts  of 
transposing  these  lines,  and  of  making  the 
first  verse  the  last;  but  I  have  not  done  so 
for  the  sake  of  harmony.  The  first  would 
then  be  more  sonorous  and  the  last  less  so, 
which  is  against  rule;  for  the  end  should 
be  more  harmonious  than  the  beginning." 
Elsewhere  he  says:  "  The  commencement  is 
good,  but  it  is  not  pathetic  enough."  *  Each 
word  was  chosen  with  the  utmost  care,  and 
he  frequently  placed  synonymes,  or  equiva- 
lents, above  a  word,  that  he  might  examine 
them  again ;  "  and  it  requires  a  profound 
knowledge  of  Italian,"  says  Foscolo,  "  to 
perceive  that  after  such  perplexing  scruples 
he  always  adopts  those  words  which  com- 
bine at  once  most  harmony,  elegance,  and 
energy." 

Petrarch's  genuine  love  of  Nature  and  his 
constant  communion  with  her  have  given  to 

1  Ugo  Foscolo.     "  Essays  on  Petrarch." 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  281 

his  lyrics  a  freshness  and  brightness  that  are 
not  lost  in  translation.  He  gives  few  descrip- 
tions of  scenery,  but  you  feel  the  presence  of 
sunshine,  of  blue  sky,  birds  and  trees  and 
running  waters.  He  has,  too,  in  almost  as 
great  a  degree  as  Burns,  the  gift  of  finding 
sympathy  in  Nature,  of  attributing  to  all  ani- 
mate and  inanimate  objects  feelings  of  joy  and 
sorrow  akin  to  his  own,  —  as  when  he  imagines 
the  nightingale  "  mourning  with  him  all  the 
night  long,"  and  in  countless  oth^r  instances. 

The  second  part  of  the  "  Canzoniere,"  writ- 
ten after  the  death  of  Laura,  has  more  of 
depth  and  earnestness  than  the  first  part. 
The  dead  Laura  is  more  real  to  us  than 
the  living. 

The  concluding  poem,  an  "  Ode  to  the 
Virgin,"  is  a  noble  and  beautiful  hymn.  Even 
Macaulay  —  although  he  considers  Petrarch 
"  an  amatory  egotist,"  and  finds  little  to 
praise  in  his  poems  —  pronounces  this  the 
finest  hymn  in  the  world. 


282  LIFE  OF  PETRARCH. 

In  the  "Triumphs,"  Petrarch  attempts  an 
epic  in  terza  rima,  —  a  fact  which  is  at  once 
fatal  to  the  work  from  the  comparison  which 
it  invites  with  Dante.  In  a  series  of  allegori- 
cal visions  he  describes  the  triumph  of  Love, 
of  Chastity  over  Love,  and  of  Death  over 
Chastity.  Fame  triumphs  over  Death,  Time 
conquers  Fame,  and  Time  itself  is  finally  lost 
in  Divinity,  or  Eternity.  The  "  Triumphs  " 
are  inferior  to  the  lyrics,  although  there  is  in 
the  "  Triumph  of  Death  "  a  fine  passage,  in 
which  Laura  appears  to  the  poet  in  a  vis- 
ion and  confesses  —  what  he  has  never  sug- 
gested in  any  other  place  —  that  his  love  is 
returned.  The  "  Triumphs "  belong  to  Pe- 
trarch's last  years,  and  were  left  unfinished 
at  his  death. 

A  few  of  the  lyrics  of  the  "  Canzoniere  " 
are  on  other  themes  than  that  of  love.  In 
certain  of  the  sonnets  he  describes  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  court  of  Avignon,  with  Beel- 
zebub laughing  in  the  midst,  in  terms  almost 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  283 

as  strong  as  those  of  the  "  Letters  without  a 
Title." 

Dearest  of  all  to  the  Italians  are  the  pa- 
triotic odes.  The  one  beginning  Spirto  gen- 
til  (Spirit  heroic)  breathes  in  every  strain 
the  most  passionate  love  for  Italy.  "  Italy 
seems  not  to  feel  her  sufferings,"  he  ex- 
claims ;  "  decrepit,  sluggish,  languid,  will  she 
sleep  forever,  and  will  there  be  no  one  to 
wake  her?  Oh,  that  I  had  my  hands  twisted 
in  her  hair!  " 

For  centuries  it  was  generally  believed  by 
writers  on  Petrarch  that  this  canzone  was 
addressed  to  Rienzi.  Since  the  time  of  De 
Sade  there  has  been  much  controversy  on 
the  subject,  the  claims  of  Rienzi,  and  of  the 
elder  and  the  younger  Stephen  Colonna, 
being  supported  by  different  writers,  with 
many  ingenious  arguments  in  favor  of  each 
claimant.  In  1885  Professor  Bartoli  hap- 
pily settled  the  question  by  the  discovery 
in  the  Laurentian   library  at   Florence  of  a 


284  LIFE   OF  PETRARCH. 

codex  of  the  fifteenth  century,  containing  the 
"  Canzoniere."  In  this  codex,  above  the 
canzone,  is  written  "Sent  to  Messer  Busone 
of  Gubbio,  Senator  of  Rome."  This  Busone 
was  elected  senator  soon  after  Petrarch's  first 
visit  to  Rome,  and  the  canzone  was  probably 
written  while  the  poet's  mind  was  still  filled 
with  the  contrast  between  the  pitiful  condi- 
tion of  the  Eternal  City  and  the  grandeur  of 
her  ancient  ruins. 

The  canzone  addressed  to  the  Italian 
princes  and  nobles  is  a  burning  appeal  for 
the  unity  of  Italy,  —  an  appeal  which  has 
stirred  the  heart  of  every  Italian  patriot  from 
that  day  to  this.  "  My  Italy  !  "  he  cries  pas- 
sionately, "though  words  be  vain  for  the 
many  deadly  wounds  which  I  see  upon  thy 
fair  body,  may  my  sighs  be  such  as  the  Arno 
and  the  Tiber  long  for."  He  urges  the  no- 
bles to  lay  aside  their  feuds,  their  blind  ambi- 
tions, and  to  unite  for  the  grand  purpose  of 
freeing  Italy  from  the  degradation  of  foreign 


ITALIAN  POEMS.  285 

oppression.  His  cry  is  the  same  as  the  cry 
of  Mazzini,  of  Garibaldi,  and  of  Victor  Em- 
anuel, Fuori  lo  straniero!  —  "  Away  with  the 
foreigner !  "  "  This  song,"  says  Fiorentino, 
"  has  lived  in  the  hearts  of  our  people 
through  centuries  of  slavery."  It  has  been 
called  the  Marseillaise  of  Italy.  What  won- 
der then,  that  editions  of  Petrarch  have  mul- 
tiplied, and  that  so  many  of  the  writers  and 
scholars  of  his  native  land  busy  themselves 
with  his  life  and  works,  now  that  his  glorious 
dream  of  the  unification  of  Italy  has  at  last 
been  realized? 


AUTHORITIES. 


On  the  life  and  works  of  Petrarch  hundreds  of  vol- 
umes have  been  written.  The  celebrated  collection 
of  Professor  Marsand  contained  nine  hundred  volumes 
on  the  subject;  and  this  has  been  surpassed  by  that  of 
Mr.  Willard  Fiske,  of  Florence,  which  contains  some 
three  thousand  volumes.  Notwithstanding  this  wealth 
of  material,  the  chief  source  for  the  study  of  Petrarch 
must  always  be  his  own  writings.  In  his  Italian 
poems,  his  Eclogues,  his  Latin  prose  works,  and  above 
all  in  his  six  hundred  letters,  we  trace  the  life  and 
character  of  the  man.  Fracassetti's  Italian  transla- 
tions are  accompanied  with  notes  giving  the  fullest  in- 
formation concerning  the  events  to  which  the  letters 
refer  and  the  persons  to  whom  they  are  addressed. 

The  biographies  which  embody  the  results  of  Fra- 
cassetti's laborious  research  have  naturally  superseded 
the  work  of  the  Abbe'  de  Sade,  which  for  nearly  a 
century  held  its  place  as  the  final  authority  on  the 
subject. 

Of  the  recent  writers  on  Petrarch  the  most  impor- 
tant are:  — 

Koerting  :  Petrarca's  Leben  und  Werke. 
Bartoli  :     Storia    della      Letteratura     Italiana, 
vol.  vii. 


288  A  UTHORITIES. 

Geiger:  Petrarka. 

Mezieres  :  Petrarque,  etude  d'apres  de  nouveaux 

documents. 
De  Sanctis  :  Saggio  Critico  sul  Petrarca. 
Carducci  :  Studi  Letterari. 

The  celebration  in  1874  of  the  four  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  Petrarch's  death  called  forth  a  number  of 
interesting  monographs  on  different  periods  of  his  life. 
The  best  account  of  his  closing  years  is  that  of  Zardo  : 
II  Petrarca  e  I  Carraresi. 

Domenico  Rossetti  published  in  1828  a  bibli- 
ography of  Petrarch,  and  Ferrazzi  in  his  Manuele. 
Dantesco  has  brought  it  down  to  1876. 


INDEX. 


Aix  la  Chapelle,  6i. 
Anguillara,  Count  Orso,  75,  106, 

108. 
Arezzo,  12,  21,  23-24,  158. 
Aristotle,  16,  269. 
Arqua,  237  et  seq. 
Augustine,  Saint,  52,  53,  55,  63, 

199,  269  et  seq. 
Averroes,  223-224. 

Avignon,  11,  26,  34  et  seq.,  41,45, 
47,  49,  56>  66,  81,  115,  123, 
"3>i  x53»  i59»  i6o»  163,  2i2, 
233,  234,  237,  268. 

Azzo  di  Correggio,  67,  122,  125. 
185. 

Barbato  of  Sulmona,  254. 

Bartoli,  Prof.  A.,  283,  288. 

Benedict  XII.,  Pope,  65,  123. 

Benintendi,  215. 

Bergamo,  216. 

Blacks  and  Whites,  12,  22. 

Boccaccio,  112,  162,  190,  217, 
226,  243,  248 ;  beginning  of 
his  friendship  with  Petrarch, 
194;  visits  to  Petrarch,   196, 

200,  201 ;  studies  Greek,  201  : 
persuaded  to  abandon  litera- 
ture, 205  ;  the  Decameron, 
208 ;  grief  at  Petrarch's  death, 
211. 

Bologna,  31,  32. 


Brunelleschi,  80. 
Busone  da  Gubbio,  284. 

Capranica,  75. 
Carpentras,  27,  32,  230. 
Carrara,  Francesco  di,  212,  230- 

232,  235,  239,  245,  247. 
Carrara,  Giacomo  di,    155,  159, 

212,  235. 
Cavaillon,  Bishop  of,  91 . 
Certaldo,  219. 

Charles  IV.,  Emperor   of  Ger- 
many, 1 71-179. 
Cicero,  12,  13,  14,  16, 28,  29,  62, 

126,  129,  199,  254. 
Clement  VI.,   Pope,  122,   123, 

160. 
Cologne,  61. 
Colonna  family,  74,  75, 124,  135, 

137,  146. 
Colonna,  Agnes,  75. 
Colonna,  James,  36,  38,  39,  46, 

64,  73>  76,  124. 
Colonna,    John,    41,    77.     104, 

J54. 
Colonna,    Stephen,  t,j,  41,  7S, 

108,  112,  283. 
Colonna,  Stephen  the  younser. 

76. 
Constantinople,  203. 
Convennole,  27,  28. 
Crete,  218. 


19 


290 


INDEX. 


Dante,  if,  22,  72,  84.  C9*  I02> 

197,  249,  282. 
De  Nolhac,  202,  209,  274. 
De  Sade,  47,  189. 
Dionigi,  65,  101. 
Donatello,  80. 

Ferrara,  152,  236. 
Fiametta,  45,  218. 
Fiorentino,  285. 
Florence,  12,  21,  22,  26,99, 195, 

196,  201,  203,  209,  229. 
Foscolo,  Ugo,  278-280. 
Fracassetti,  33,  252,  256,  287. 
Francesca,  daughter  of  Petrarch, 

183,  190-191. 

Garibaldi,  285. 
Garignano,  180. 
Genoa,  167,  168,  169. 
Gerardo,  Petrarch's  brother,  32, 

43,  81,  124. 
Giotto,  235. 

Giovanni  Malpaghini,  222. 
Gregory  XI.,  Pope,  252. 
Gregorovius,  134. 
Griselda,  209. 

Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  12. 
Guglielmo  da  Pastrengo,  67. 
Guido  Settimo,  28,  32,  189. 
Guido  of  Bologna,  72. 

Henry  VII.,  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, 26. 

Homer,  14,  254,  259;  translated 
into  Latin,  202. 

Horace,  14,  28,  254. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  276. 

Incisa,  12,  24-26. 

Innocent  VI.,  Pope,  152,  213. 


Joanna  of  Naples,  125. 

John,  King  of  France,  179. 

John,  Petrarch's  son,  182  ;  edu- 
cation of,  183  ;  given  a  canoni- 
cate,  185 ;  banished  from  his 
father's  house,  187 ;  death,  190. 

John  XXII.,  Pope,  65. 

koerting,  48,  260,  287. 

Laelius,  39,  193. 

Lanciani,  128. 

Landor,  Walter  Savage,  260. 

Lastra,  21,  24. 

Laura,  7,  9,  14,  94,  218,  272, 
275,  281 ;  Petrarch  first  meets, 
45  ;  different  theories  concern- 
ing, 47-50 ;  nature  of  Pe- 
trarch's love  for,  5 1 ;  death,  152. 

Leontius  Pilatus,  201,  203,  204. 

Liege,  62. 

Livy,  12,  14,  129,  254. 

Lombardo  da  Serico,  246. 

Lombes,  39,  41. 

Letters  of  Petrarch,  249  ;  Fa- 
miliar, 252,  254,255;  Miscel- 
laneous, 252,  255  ;  Senile,  252, 
255 ;  Metrical  Epistles,  254, 
261  ;  Letters  without  a  Title, 
255 ;  Letter  to  Posterity,  7, 
18,  92,  256-258,  275. 

Macaulay,  54,  281. 

Mantua,  152,  175. 

Mazzini,  136,  285. 

Mezieres,  47,  288. 

Michelet,  10. 

Milan,  121,  152,  162  et  seq.,  186, 

197,  200,  202,  212,   229;  the 

plague  at,  180. 
Montpellier,  29,  31. 
Mont  Ventoux,  58. 


INDEX. 


291 


Naples,  ioi,  103, 104, 115,  124, 


Orsini,  74-75,  76. 
Orso,  Count,  of  Anguillara,  75, 
106,  108. 

Padua,  152, 155,  201,  202,  212, 
214,  216,  226,  230-236,  245. 

Paris,  61-63,  J79>  20°'  202>  229« 

Parma,  122,  124,  125-126,  151, 
154. 

Pastrengo,  Guglielmo  da,  67. 

Pavia,  180,  202,  216. 

Petracco,  Petrarch's  father,  22 
et  seq. ;  exiled  from  Florence, 
22  ;  removes  to  Avignon,  26 ; 
burns  his  son's  books,  30 ; 
death,  32. 

Petrarch,  79 ;  relation  to  the  Re- 
naissance, 7-20 ;  birth,  21 ; 
early  years,  24^  seq.;  removal 
to  Carpentras,  26  ;  education, 
27;  sent  to  Montpellier  to  study 
law,  29  ;  love  for  the  classics, 
30 ;  sent  to  Bologna,  31 ;  aban- 
dons the  law,  34;  enters  the 
Church,  35  ;  settles  at  Avig- 
non, 36 ;  friendship  with  the 
Colonnas,  38 ;  description  of 
himself  in  youth,  43  ;  first 
meeting  with  Laura,  45  ;  na- 
ture of  love  for  Laura,  51  ; 
"  The  Secret,"  52 ;  struggles 
against  his  love,  55  ;  ascent  of 
Mont  Ventoux,  58 ;  love  of 
travel,  59 ;  visits  France,  Bel- 
gium, Germany,  and  Switzer- 
land, 60;  letters  to  Cardinal 
Colonna,  63;  receives  the 
canonicate  of  Lombes,  66 ; 
love  for   Rome,  67;   visit  to 


Rome,  69-80 ;  letters  from 
Rome,  tj  ;  life  at  Vaucluse, 
84  et  seq.;  receives  offer 
of  public  coronation  from 
Roman  Senate,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  97  ;  desire  for 
the  laurel,  98 ;  embarks  for 
Naples,  104  ;  examined  by 
King  Robert,  105  ;  crowned 
at  Rome,  107  ;  great  popular- 
ity, 114;  visit  to  Bergamo, 
116  ;  returns  to  Avignon,  123  ; 
embassy  to  Naples,  124  ;  home 
at  Parma,  125  ;  finds  the  let- 
ters of  Cicero,  126 ;  sympathy 
with  Rienzi,  130;  loses  the 
friendship  of  the  Colonna  fam- 
ily, 137  ;  letters  to  Rienzi, 
139, 143,  144  ;  returns  to  Italy, 
141 ;  grief  at  the  fall  of 
Rienzi,  147;  loss  of  Laura 
and  other  friends,  152-155; 
made  Canon  of  Padua,  155  ; 
last  visit  to  Rome,  156;  first 
visit  to  Florence,  157;  feuds 
with  the  physicians,  159;  re- 
moval to  Milan,  162 ;  rela- 
tions with  the  Visconti,  166  ; 
embassy  to  Venice,  169 ;  let- 
ters to  Charles  IV.,  173,  178 ; 
visits  to  the  Emperor,  1 76, 1 78  ; 
embassy  to  Paris,  179;  leaves 
Milan,  180  ;  attitude  toward 
his  children,  182  et  seq.;  friend- 
ship of  Boccaccio,  194;  sec- 
ond visit  to  Florence,  195 ; 
letters  to  Boccaccio,  203,  206, 
207-209,  217;  translation  of 
Griselda,  209;  last  will,  211  ; 
receives  many  offers  of  a 
home  from  foreign  princes, 
212 ;  offered  the  post  of  Papal 


292 


INDEX. 


Secretary,  213;  makes  his 
home  at  Venice,  214 ;  be- 
queaths his  library  to  that 
city,  215  ;  honors  received  in 
Venice,  220;  pupil  from  Ra- 
venna, 221  ;  quarrel  with  the 
four  young  Venetians,  225  ; 
leaves  Venice,  226 ;  home  at 
Padua,  230  ;  last  days  in 
Arqua,  238  et  seq.  ;  last  jour- 
ney to  Venice,  245  ;  death, 
247. 
Petrarch's  mother,  25,  n. 
Petrarch's  works  : 

On  a  Solitary  Life,  91-92,  267. 
Leisure  of  Monastic  Life,  92. 
Africa,  8,  92,  105,  195,  259- 

261,  273. 
Letter  to  Posterity,  7,  18,  92, 

256-258,  275. 
On   his   own     Ignorance  and 
that  of  many  Others,  226, 
244,  268. 
The  Triumphs,  244,  276,  282. 
Answer  to  the  Slanders  of  an 
Anonymous  Gaul,  244,  268. 
Eclogues,  261. 
Book  of  Famous  Men,  262. 
Book  of   Memorable  Events, 

262. 
Remedy  for  either  Extreme  of 

Fortune,  263-266. 
Books  of  Invective  against  a 

Physician,  268. 
Dialogues  on  Contempt  of  the 

World,  269-273. 
Canzoniere,  274. 
Ode  to  the  Virgin,  281. 
Patriotic  Odes,  283. 
Philip  di  Vitry,  72. 
Pietroda  Bologna,  217. 
Pisa,  26,  124. 


Plato,  16,  269. 

Pontremoli,    blind    scholar    of, 

115,  116. 
Prague,  178. 

Quinet,  Edgar,  12. 

Ravenna,  221. 

Renaissance,  78-80,  113. 

Rienzi,  123, 127  et  seq.,  162,  171, 
J73,  283;  youth,  128;  enthu- 
siasm for  Rome,  129  ;  friend- 
ship with  Petrarch,  131  ;  mas- 
ter of  Rome,  132  ;  plans  for  a 
united  Italy,  136 ;  weakness 
of,  142  ;  fall  of,  145 ;  flight 
from  Rome,  146  ;  second  reign 
and  death,  150. 

Robert,  King  of  Naples,  100  et 
seq.,   124. 

Roberto  de'  Bardi,  100. 
Rome,  64,  65,  66,  115,  127,  129, 
J3°,  IJI,  iZietseq.,  155,171, 
t73,  179,  222,  229,  233,  235  ; 
Petrarch's  description  of,  69, 
80 ;  coronation  of  Petrarch  at, 
99  et  seq. 

SCALIGERS,  66,  125,  185. 

Schlegel,  227. 
Scipio,  74,  260. 
Seneca,  14,  74,  129,  153. 
Siena,  204. 
Socrates,  193,  254. 
Symonds,  J.  A.,  8. 

Urban  V..  Pope,  223-237,  257. 

Varro,  16, 199. 

Vaucluse,  81  et  seq.  ;  Petrarch's 
descriptions  of,  84-88  ;  works 
written  there,  115,  122,  159- 
161,  182,  213. 


INDEX. 


293 


Venice,  121,  167,  201,  203,  212, 
214  ;  Petrarch  makes  his  home 
at,  214 ;  the  Senate  accepts  his 
offer  of  a  library,  216;  public 
festivals,  219 ;  verdict  of  the 
four  young  Venetians,  225. 

Verona,  126,  152,  153,  185. 

Victor  Emmanuel,  285. 

Villani,  246. 

Virgil,  14,  108,  152,  254,  259; 
Petrarch's  manuscript  copy 
of,  50. 


Visconti,  125,  151,  163,  165, 
174,  179,  245;  Petrarch's  re- 
lation to,  166-169. 

Visconti,  Galeazzo.  169,  180,. 
216. 

Visconti,  John,  163,  165,  166, 
169. 

Voigt,  15. 

Voltaire,  114. 

Zefferino  Re,  54. 


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as  a  contribution  toward  the  formation  of  a  just  and  true  national  sentiment,  or 
a  sentiment  of  love  to  the  nation.  The  present  generation  will  find  the  story 
comparatively  a  new  one,  and  will  enjoy,  as  other  readers  have,  its  realism  and 

?athos,  and  ask  again  and  again,  as  has  been  asked  many  times  before,  Is  it  true? 
'his  holiday  edition  is  illustrated  by  F.  T.  Merrill  with  many  designs  in  sympathy 
with  the  story.  No  more  delightful  book  is  offered  for  the  holiday  trade  than 
this  popular  story."  —  Book  Buyer. 

FRANKLIN  IN  FRANCE. 

Part  II.  The  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Franklin's  Life  till  his  Return. 
From  original  documents.  By  Edward  Everett  Hale  and  Edward 
E.  Hale,  Jr.  1  vol.  8vo.  Cloth,  gilt  top,  uniform  with  the  first  vol- 
ume.    Price,  #3.00. 

MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

A  Novel.  By  Rev.  E.  E.  Hale,  author  of  "In  His  Name,"  "Man 
without  a  Country,"  etc.     i6mo.     Cloth.     Price,  #1.25.     Paper,  50  cents. 

IN  HIS  NAME. 

Illustrated.  By  Rev.  E.  E.  Hale.  A  new  and  cheaper  edition  of 
this  beautiful  story,  including  all  of  the  illustrations  contained  in  the  larger 
edition.  One  volume.  i6mo.  Cloth.  Uniform  with  "  Ten  Times  One," 
"  The  Man  without  a  Country,"  etc.     Price,  #1.25. 

6 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers    Publications. 

THE     PENTAMERON,    CITATION     FROM    WILLIAM      SHAK- 
SPEARE,  AND  MINOR  PROSE  PIECES  AND  CRITICISMS. 

By  Walter  Savage  Landor.    i2mo.    Cloth.    Price,  $2.00. 

This  volume,  "Imaginary  Conversations"  (5  vols.),  and  "Pericles  and 
Aspasia"  (1  vol.),  comprise  Landor's  entire  prose  writings. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  STORIES 

On  the  Golden  Texts  of  The  International  Lessons  of  1889.  First 
Half,  January-June.  By  Rev.  Edward  E.  Hale.  i6mo.  Cloth. 
Price,  #1.00. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  STORIES 

On  the  Golden  Texts  of  the  International  Lessons  of  1889.  Second 
Half,  July-December.  By  Rev.  Edward  E.  Hale.  i6mo.  Cloth. 
Price,  #1.00. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   STORIES   FOR  LITTLE   CHILDREN 

On  the  Golden  Texts  of  the  International  Lessons  of  1889.  July- 
December.  By  Miss  Lucretia  P.  Hale  and  Mrs.  Bernard  Whit- 
man.    One  volume.     Square  1 6m o'.     Cloth.     Price,  $1.00.    . 

"  The  publishers  of  this  volume  issued  in  January  a  collection  of  twenty-six 
stories  founded  upon  the  texts  of  the  International  Course  for  the  first  six  months  of 
this  year.  They  will  issue  this  month  a  series  of  twenty-six  stories  corresponding 
to  the  lessons  of  the  last  six  months  of  the  year.  These  stories  are  written  by  what 
in  the  Wadsworth  Clubs  we  call  a  'Ten,'  —  several  of  them  by  myself,  and  the 
others  by  my  sisters,  my  children,  and  by  Mrs.  Bernard  Whitman,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Ten  Times  One  orders.  It  is  pleasant  to  acknowledge  the  interest  and 
favor  with  which  the  collection  already  published  has  been  received  by  teachers 
of  Sunday-schools.  But  it  had  scarcely  appeared  before  we  received  an  earnest 
appeal  from  all  quarters  that  we  would  attempt  the  preparation  of  another  series, 
intended  for  the  younger  children ;  they  make  so  large  a  part  of  every  Sunday- 
school  that  whatever  helps  them  or  their  teachers  helps  forward  the  whole.  I 
felt  at  once  some  surprise  that  the  general  wish  for  such  a  collection  had  not  been 
sooner  acknowledged  and  provided  for.  I  therefore  urged  Mrs.  Whitman  and 
my  sister  Lucretia  to  undertake  at  once  the  compilation  of  a  volume  which  should 
meet  the  purposes  of  the  younger  classes  in  all  our  Sunday-schools,  as  they 
engaged  in  the  study  of  the  International  texts  for  this  year.  They  have  under- 
taken this  very  pleasant  office,  and  the  reader  has  in  hand  the  stories  which  they 
have  provided  for  the  little  people. 

"  It  is  published  at  the  same  time  with  the  collection  for  older  boys  and  girls, 
which,  as  before,  was  written  by  what  I  am  tempted  to  call  my  own  '  Ten.'  Both 
of  them  are  published  with  our  best  hopes  and  prayers  for  the  welfare  of  the 
young  people  for  whom  they  are  written." — Edward  E.  Hale. 

ROGER  BERKELEY'S   PROBATION. 

A  Story.  By  Helen  Campbell,  author  of  "Prisoners  of  Poverty," 
"  Miss  Melinda's  Opportunity,"  "Mrs.  Herndon's  Income,"  "The  What- 
to-do  Club."     i2mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $1.00 ;  paper  covers,  50  cents. 

"It  is  one  of  those  stories  that  always  appeal  to  the  sympathies,  and  will  find 
a  large  circle  of  readers  among  those  who  still  believe  in  the  courage,  gratitude, 
and  fidelity  of  man.  The  tale  is  well  conceived  and  prettily  set  in  an  old- 
fashioned  country  house,  the  characters  are  in  the  main  well  drawn,  and  the 
climax  very  effective.  The  author's  style  is  bright  and  lively,  and  though  the 
materials  she  has  used  are  not  new,  they  are  most  pleasantly  modelled  to  suit 
her  ends."  —  Commonwealth. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 

PRISONERS   OF  POVERTY  ABROAD. 

By  Helen  Campbell,  author  of  "Prisoners  of  Poverty,''  "The 
What-to-do  Club,"  etc.  i6mo.  Cloth.  Price,  #1.00  ;  paper  covers,  50 
cents. 

"  It  is  a  noble  work  that  Helen  Campbell  is  doing  in  exposing  the  social 
conditions  against  which  working-women  are  striving  in  order  to  live  respectably 
and  happily,  as  they  have  the  natural  right  to  live.  Imagination  has  no  part  in 
her  description  of  their  lot ;  but  experience  in  acquaintance  with  them  in  their 
labor  cumulates  fact  upon  fact  to  make  description  vivid  and  forceful  to  social 
conscience.  And  whether  women  are  laborers  of  the  United  States,  England, 
France,  or  Germany,  as  pictured  in  her  new  book  ('  Prisoners  of  Poverty  Abroad '), 
they  are  largely  indebted  to  her  for  their  advance  to  recognition  with  workmen 
as  contestants  for  readjustment  of  the  relations  of  capital  and  labor.  The  new 
book  is  quite  as  serious  and  appealing  as  the  other,  and  shows  about  the  same 
privation  in  conditions  and  inequalities  in  wages."  — Boston  Globe. 

A  RAMBLING  STORY. 

By  Mary  Cowden  Clarke.  A  new  edition.  i6mo.  Cloth.  Price, 
#1.00;  paper  covers,  50  cents. 

*'  In  '  A  Rambling  Story  '  Mary  Cowden  Clarke,  whose  more  serious  Shake- 
spearian studies  have  made  her  name  pleasantly  and  honorably  known  to  students, 
tells  a  romantic  tale  of  art,  love,  adventure,  and  travel.  .  .  .  The  story  has  for 
its  heroes  and  heroines,  principal  and  subordinate,  true,  high-hearted,  romantic 
characters,  and  is  simply,  pleasantly,  and  at  times  delightfully  told,  and  abounds 
in  word-picturing  and  phrasing  and  romantic  incidents." —  Chicago  Tribune. 

A  WOODLAND  WOOING. 

A  Story.    By  Eleanor  Putnam.     i6mo.    Cloth.     Price,  #1.00. 

"  The  reader  must  be  dull  indeed  who  could  not  be  won  from  his  summer 
drowsiness  by  enjoyment  of  the  breeziness  and  cheeriness,  the  unforced  brightness 
and  charming  originality  of  this,  the  most  amusing  '  summer  novel '  which  has  up 
to  date  fi  und  its  way  to  our  table.  Its  pages  breathe  of  youth  and  summer 
weather,  of  clover-fields  and  mountain  brooks.  One  is  quickened  with  a  sense  of 
something  near  and  sweet  and  wholesome  in  its  pleasant  company.  It  is  the 
story  of  a  summer's  'camping-out,'  told  in  alternate  chapters  by  a  brother  and 
sister,  of  the  frank,  jolly,  rather  'picklesome '  sort."  —  Exchange. 

COUNTER-CURRENTS. 

A  Story.  By  the  author  of  "Justina."  i6mo.  Cloth.  Price,  75 
cants. 

"' Counter-Currents,*  by  the  anonymous  author  of  '  Justina  '  is  well  worth 
being  read,  and  attentively.  It  is  a  sweet,  uplifting  story,  with  vigorously  drawn 
characters  and  scenes,  —  indeed  it  is  occasionally  truly  dramatic,  —  and  with  many 
blendings  of  tender  feeling  and  delicate  analysis.  Moreover,  without  seeming  to 
aim  to  do  so  unduly,  it  teaches  several  most  important  practical  lessons  in  an 
unmistakable  manner."  —  Congregationalist. 

WILLIAM   SHAKESPEARE'S   COMPLETE   WORKS. 

From  the  text  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dyce's  second  edition.  With 
Portrait,  Memoir,  and  Glossary.  A  cheap  edition.  7  vols.  i6mo.  Cloth. 
Price,  £5.25. 

The  "  Alexander  Dyce"  edition  of  Shakespeare's  plays  and  poems  is  pre- 
sumedly one  of  the  most  accurate  among  the  many  editions  which  have  been 
published.  The  interpretation  of  the  text  has  the  indorsement  of  our  best 
scholars,  both  in  England  and  America.  The  edition  is  issued  in  small,  handy 
volumes,  compact  and  durably  bound,  and  contains  a  glossary 

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